Another Kind of Green
by staywithmeBL
Summary: Nathan and Lucas Scott are the kings of Tree Hill High. Will they risk their place on top when they meet ordinary Haley James and Brooke Davis? COMPLETE
1. The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows

_ok, so i'm starting this story because the idea came to me, and i know i'll forget about it if i don't start it now... this doesn't mean i'm giving up on Better Together. i'll keep updating both as soon as i can :) _

_this first chapter is a little on the short side, but it's just setting everything up. please review!_

**Another Kind of Green**

_The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows_

Brooke looked down at her newly manicured nails as she walked home from Haley's. Haley had actually done a decent job this week. It was routine for her and Haley to spend every Thursday after school having a "girls day." It didn't matter that Haley was her only true friend, they made up "girls day" to have an excuse to give each other manicures, eat ice cream, and cry as they watched some movie based off of a Nicholas Sparks book. As soon as the clock struck 2:50, and the bell rang dismissing them from school, Haley and Brooke headed to the nearest Rite Aid, buying manicure kits, and several pints of ice cream.

This week they had watched "A Walk to Remember." They both drooled over Shane West, and how badly they wanted a guy to give them attention like Langdon gave Jamie. Sadly, Brooke realized, they wanted any guy to give them attention. Her mind flashed back to the conversation she and Haley had shared just an hour or so before.

_"Oh, I love it when he defends her right there, and how he chases after her." Brooke said dreamily._

_"I'm more of a fan of how he helps her accomplish all her dreams and goals." Haley replied._

_"Oh yeah, and if my guy could look like that while doing it. Mmm. Mmm." Haley laughed at this, but her smile fell short. _

_"Haley, what's with the long face?"_

"Why don't we have that Brooke? I mean you're gorgeous. and I never thought I was hideous looking-"

_"Haley, I've told you a thousand times you are-"_

"I know Brooke, but why can't we just get somebody."

"Ok." Brooke started, trying to make a clear explanation. "It's not our fault we weren't born with the last name Sawyer, or even Scott for that matter, and we definitely weren't born with the priviledges they all have. But look at Jamie Sullivan. She's the minister's daughter, and she wears those awful sweaters and dresses you wouldn't even be caught dead in, and she gets hotty hotty Landgon."

_"She also gets Leukemia."_

"Ok, so not the point, Haley. I meant that somewhere out there our guys our waiting for us, and they will see how hott we are, even if we do shop at Bargain Mart!"

She sighed realizing how pathetic they both were, spending every Thursday night crying over movies, and dreaming they had more. She knew, however, that she wouldn't give it up for the world. She and Haley had been best friends since elementary school, and they had always been there for each other.

* * *

"Ok, so you mean to tell me that you, once again, turned down Emma Jacobs?" Nathan teased his brother as they sat at the bar in the kitchen of their father's house. It had become routine for them to grab a bite together after practice, or even after playing at the rivercourt. Most of the time they ended up at Karen's cafe, but she had been out of town for the week, attending a cooking seminar in Boston. As much as Lucas loathed his father, he wouldn't disappoint Nathan because of it. In reality, he had loathed Nathan all the way up until their eighth grade year when they were assigned to do a project together. Nathan had stayed at Lucas' house working on the project, and they had come to terms that they really had a lot in common. This didn't mean, however, a new friendship had blossomed. They still avoided each other, and pretended to hate each other, especially when they both made the Varsity team as freshmen. It wasn't until Lucas saw Dan practically choke Nathan against a wall for missing a shot, that things had changed. Lucas had defended Nathan, even to the point where he let him stay at his house until Nathan was ready to face Dan again. After that, they shared an understanding and respect for each other, and had become pretty close over the last three years. Not to mention they practically ruled the school together, having girls throw themselves at them everyday. They both admitted it was nice having the other around. The Scott brothers had become a legend in the school.

"Ok. So what if I did? What's the big deal?"

"But man, she is so hot."

"Dude, I just wasn't feeling her."

"Ok, but you still could have had a little fun."

"Whatever, Nathan." The fact was, Lucas was tired of all of these brainless, gorgeous girls throwing themselves at him. Of course he would never admit that, or even for a second ruin his reputation he and Nathan had worked three years to get. He was a god at tree hill high, and he didn't really want to lose that. He knew, however, if he kept rejecting these girls and missing parties, that people would talk. Lucas had always been, and still was, the more responsible of the two. He attended class, and actually tried hard to get good grades, which in fact wasn't hard for him at all. He was the one at parties who drank very little, making sure everyone had a safe ride home. But everyone else at the parties saw Lucas Scott, who laughed, drank and had a good time while he was there, and they never questioned more than that. It was the way it had always been.

"Ok, so maybe you're right. I guess I've just been in a funk lately. I just want to put more time into basketball."

"Ok, seriously. Don't get all Dan on me now-"

At that moment, their father walked into the house.

"Speak of the devil." Lucas laughed.

"You can sneak out the back door and he'll never even know you've been here."

Lucas gathered his things, and headed towards the door, but it was too late.

"Lucas, what a pleasant surprise." Lucas set his bag back down and turned to face Dan.

"Dan." Lucas said, acknowledging his father's existence.

"I didn't know you were here son, I didn't see your car."

Lucas boiled inside at the word _son. _"My mom had to use it to drive to a seminar, hers is in the shop."

"I wish you guys would have let me known, I could have helped out. Maybe lent you some money, or a car."

Nathan could tell Lucas was so frustrated he was about to hit something, and wished that he could have gotten out in time.

"You know that we don't need your money Dan. Or your help. And I know you know that, so don't even offer. My mom's had a lot of success with her cafe and diner, and especially with TRIC. She actually became wealthy from working hard, not from using her spouse's money." He flashed Nathan an apologetic look, who smiled to reassure him there was no offense taken to the comment.

"Son, I was only trying to help."

"Nathan, I'll catch ya later." Lucas picked up his bag, and walked to the door.

* * *

The next morning worked like clockwork for Brooke. She woke up, showered, and got herself ready for the day. She met Haley at the same corner they met at every morning. Neither of them had a car, or had parents who could afford to buy them a car, so they walked together everyday, unless it rained, and they hitched a ride from one of their parents. Both preferred walking than having to ride with their parents. It gave them a chance to prepare for the day.

"So are you ready for the new semester, Haley?"

"God yes. I am so glad that I'm out of Calculus. I almost died of boredom in there."

"That's because Ms. Ritter is like eighty." They both chuckled at the thought of the elderly woman. "So what classes do you have?"

"Um.." Haley pulled out her schedule. "Well, I tutor for the first two periods, and then I have English, History of Religion, and then Chemistry. How about you?"

"Well, I have Fads and Fashions first period-"

"Brooke! That's like the third time you've taken that class."

"Haley, it's ok. I'm allowed to. It's like art, every time you take it, you take it as a higher level. And if I actually want to be a designer someday, I have to know how to properly make clothes." Brooke said defending herself.

"Ok, ok. You're right. What other classes do you have?"

"Uh, I have gym second period, and then it looks like I have English with you. I have History of Pop Culture after that, and then Chemistry with you too."

"Oh, I hope you're my lab partner. I don't want to get stuck with some weirdo, or worse off- some cocky jock."

"Well, let's hope the gods on our sides!" Brooke exclaimed, as they approached Tree Hill High. "You ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."


	2. Standing Outside The Fire

**Another Kind of Green**

_Standing Outside the Fire_

Haley and Brooke separated as the five minute warning bell ran, and they each headed off to their respective classes. Haley was grateful that she got to start every day in the tutor center, the only place she really felt comfortable in the entire school. High school could be a horrible place, especially if you didn't fall under the category of elite and popular. Her mind flashed to a scene from the movie "Mean Girls" and she laughed at the thought.

'Yeah,' she thought. 'That's pretty much how it is."

Brooke was also glad to start her day in the economics class titled "Fads and Fashions." It had always been her dream to become a designer ever since her grandmother taught her how to sew. She told everyone that she was one day going to be rich and famous, and they would see her clothes on the bodies of celebrities.

Another plus to taking this class (for the third time) was that the teacher knew her and her skills well, so Brooke didn't have to follow the course outline as everyone else did. She could work independently, and she liked that.

She sat in the corner pinning pieces of red silk to her mannequin, forming the neckline of a halter top.

"Miss Parker?" they heard a voice come over the speaker.

"Yes?" They young teacher replied.

"Could you please have Brooke Davis report to the office please?"

"I sure will. She'll be down in a few moments."

Brooke gathered her things, putting the mannequin back into the closet, and headed towards the office. She stepped through the double doors, and was greeted by the secretary.

"Um, hi. I was called to the office?" she questioned the secretary.

"What's your name dear?"

Brooke found it kind of sad that she had attended this school for three years now, and the secretary couldn't tell her her own name. She knew had it been Peyton Sawyer, it would have been no question.

"I'm Brooke Davis."

"Oh, ok. Mr. Phillips would like to see you."

Brooke walked down the hall to the guidance counselor's office. She knocked lightly on the door, and was greeted by a "come in, come in." She walked in and took a seat in the chair that sat across from his desk.

"Is there something wrong Mr. Phillips?" she asked politely.

"No, not a big one at least. You have gym scheduled for second period, and it came to our attention this morning that that class is already too full. So we're pulling all upperclassmen who have already taken gym. We placed you in Health and Awareness second period. Your teacher is Mr. Durham. Here's the room number." He wrote down the number on a piece of paper. "I'll also give you a note to give to Mr. Durham explaining the situation. He'll be sure to understand." He said handing her another piece of paper.

* * *

Brooke stepped into the classroom that was written on the piece of paper she had been given, only to be greeted by dozens of pairs of eyes. Every person in the room was dressed in a shirt and tie, or a cheerleading uniform. She handed her note to an older man she recognized to be the basketball coach.

"I think there's been a big mistake." she whispered to him, glancing behind her at the room.

"Well, looks like you're stuck with us anyways. I'm sure you'll fit in fine." he said glancing up from the note. "You can have a seat now, Ms. Davis."

"Hey Girl! You can come sit with the Tim!" she heard a voice from the right side of the room.

She turned around to face the classroom, looking for an open seat. She always got nervous in uncomfortable situations like this. She could feel her hands getting clammy, and her throat closing up.

She found a seat directly in the middle of the back row, and proceeded to this spot. A brunette next to her held out her hand.

"I'm Bevin. Are you like new? Why are you in this class? Are you a cheerleader?" She glanced ahead of her to get an answer from another cheerleader. "Are you going to try out or something?"

Brooke shook her hand, and blushed as the class broke out into laughter after Bevin's series of questions.

"Uh.. no. There was just a scheduling mistake in the guidance office. This apparently was the only class that would work out."

"Ohhh." Bevin acted like she understood, although she was still quite confused. "So you, like, aren't on the squad."

"No."

"But you're still in this class."

"Uh, yes."

Whitey Durham silenced the class, trying to convince them to finish and homework they might have before the game tonight.

"If any of you become ineligible, the rest of the team will make up for it in suicides. Now get to work." He smiled at them.

There was a chorus of groans as they all pulled out their books. Brooke sat there quietly sketching in her notebook. When she was sure that everyone was focused on other things, she looked up for the first time since she had gotten there to observe her surroundings. Bevin sat directly to her left. To her right, she recognized a kid from her biology class named Aaron. In front of her sat Nathan Scott. To his left sat Peyton Sawyer, his "girlfriend." To Nathan's right, and in front of Aaron, sat Lucas Scott. Brooke realized the elite group of tree hill sat directly in front of her.

'This is going to be a long semester.' She thought to herself.

* * *

After forty minutes of what Brooke referred to as hell, she met up with Haley to walk to their English class.

"So, basically, you sat in silence surrounded by the entire team and cheer squad?" Haley asked after Brooke explained the entire situation.

"Yes, it's awful Haley." Brooke whined.

"Did they even speak to you at all?"

"I think one girl thought that because I was in the class that it meant I had to be on the squad. Other than that, they all looked at me as if I was some sort of freak."

"Well, at least there's a good view." Haley giggled. It was common knowledge that both Scott brothers were gorgeous, even considered to be the best two looking guys in the school.

They walked into their English room, and took their seats on the right side of the room. They looked over as Nathan, Peyton, and Lucas.

"Hey." Haley whispered. "It's your new best friends." She giggled.

Brooke's cheeks turned bright red. "Shhhhh. Haley, shut up!"

"Ok students. Please take your seats." The teacher announced, indicating class was beginning.

* * *

Secretly, Lucas loved English. He already knew it was going to be his favorite class this semester, because had always been his favorite in the past. He enjoyed that for two periods, almost eighty minutes, he got to listen and discuss literature. He had learned that he couldn't really talk about it outside of school, not to Nathan or his friends. The only person he could discuss it with at all was his good friend Jake Jagielski. Jake rolled pretty high right along with Lucas and Nathan, so they saved their conversations about the latest books they had each read for long bus rides or days when it was just them at the river court. The both knew that it was a shallow way to live, and that in reality, they shouldn't care if people knew about it, but in Tree Hill being popular meant partying, drinking, basketball, and interest in the opposite sex. So they left it to themselves. When you're on top, you don't want to risk getting pushed off.

As class drug on, they all sat and listened to the teacher go over the syllabus.

"The first novel we will be reading is _Pride and Prejudice_ by Jane Austen. Please make sure you grab one when the bell rings. Read through chapter three by tomorrow."

The class let out a groan. Lucas, on the other hand was excited about the chance to read this book. He had wanted to for quite some time, but hadn't really found the time or place to.

* * *

Brooke and Haley sat in the cafeteria, eating their pizza. They watched as Nathan picked Peyton up, and placed her over his shoulder while Tim took Peyton's pizza. The rest of the group watched and laughed as Nathan continued to carry her around on his shoulder.

"Isn't it sad that they can do no wrong? I mean, if we did something like that, they'd look at us as if we were wild animals or something." Haley asked Brooke.

"Well, what's even sadder is that if our parents had money, or if we played for the _oh-so-great_ _Tree Hill Ravens," _rolling her eyes and marking the last words sarcastically as if it were the greatest things ever, "we'd be over there with them."

They continued with their lunch, discussing random things such as their English assignment, or if they were actually going to the game. It was always thrown out as an option, but they always decided on staying home instead.

* * *

By the time Chemistry rolled around, both Brooke and Haley were ready for the end of the day. They took their seats, as they had been designated on a paper in the front of the room. Luckily, they weren't far from each other. Everyone dreaded this class. It was hard, but the teacher made it even harder. It was hard to pass this class, let alone to get an 'A', and hardly anyone ever did. All of the knew it was the worst way to end the day.

"Does anyone have any questions about the syllabus?" the teacher asked, and after no one responded, she continued. "And now for your lab partners."

They all looked around anxiously. They all knew who they hope would be their partner, but knew it wouldn't turn out that way.

"Tim Smith and Bevin Prince." The teacher continued to read off her list.

"Brooke Davis and Lucas Scott."

Brooke looked over at him, and offered a smile, in which he returned a nod.

"Since we have an odd number, there's going to be a group of three. So let's see, who do we have left. Peyton Sawyer, Nathan Scott, and Haley James. Please spend the rest of the class getting to know your lab partners."


	3. Your Stories, My Alibis

**Another Kind of Green**

_Your Stories, My Alibis_

"So, Brooke.. that's your name right?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah. That's right."

"Right, Brooke. Tell me something about yourself."

"I.. uh.. what do you want to know?" She asked shyly.

"Well, we're supposed to get to know each other. Tell me about your family."

"Well, my dad's a truck driver, and my mom works as a maid in a hotel in Raleigh. Needless to say, they're pretty much absentee parents."

Lucas met her gaze and saw the sadness as she said this. He understood, partly, how she felt, knowing that his father had abandoned him and his mother even before he was born.

"So what about your family?"

"Well, since everyone knows the story with my dad." She nodded. _Everyone _did know about the relationship between Dan and Lucas Scott. "But my mom's pretty much amazing. And my Uncle Keith, well he's pretty much been the father figure in my life. Then there's my brother, but I'm sure you might have heard of him." He genuinely smiled at her.

They fell into comfortable conversation, each feeling as if they had known each other for years.

* * *

Peyton, Nathan, and Haley sat uncomfortably for several minutes before Peyton spoke up. 

"Where on earth did you get that... poncho?" she said in disgust, regarding Haley's sweater.

Nathan looked up, and looked apologetically at Haley. Even though the poncho was, well, _hideous, _no one deserved that.

"Peyton what is the matter with you?" He said, anger filling his voice. Lately, it had seemed to him, that he and Peyton just didn't make sense. Sure, when they were freshmen they made a great couple, and for several years it had been great. Together, they rose to the top of Tree Hill's social ladder. But lately, he felt as if that 'spark' was gone, that connection that they had once shared.

"My mother made it for me, if you really did want to know." Haley spoke up. She was definitely not ready to spend the entire semester getting ridiculed by Peyton.

"I think that's cool," Nathan said. "That your mom made it for you that is. I don't think my mom's ever made anything for me. She doesn't make dinner half the time!"

Haley smiled at the comment, but noticed that Peyton was glaring.

"Are you coming to the game tonight, Haley?" Nathan asked her, completely ignoring the look Peyton was shooting at him.

"Nathan!" she hissed.

"Uh, oh, I, um..." Haley tried to find something, anything to say.

"You totally should. We're playing the Pickerington Kicks, and we're going to kick ass."

"_Pirates._" Peyton corrected. "Pickerington Pirates."

"They're a real bunch of hicks, though. It's a total laugh."

"Ok, well I'll ask Brooke, and see if she wants to come."

"Brooke?" he asked.

"Oh, my best friend. She's right over there, with, uh, your brother."

They all looked over to where Lucas and Brooke were sitting, carrying on conversation.

"Oh," Peyton said sarcastically. "She looks just thrilling."

Nathan shot her another look. He had had enough of her today, and continued to piss her off by flirting with Haley. He was completely surprised by her, and her friend Brooke. Sure they both were somewhat plain (Haley more so than Brooke) and he knew their clothes weren't the designer clothes that most of the girls he hung around wore, but there was something naturally beautiful about both of these girls.

* * *

"Tell me you love weird science?" Brooke laughed. 

"Ah, the family jewels" He replied in a mocking voice.

"He doesn't even have a license, Lisa." She said also mocking the character.

They broke out into laughter, until Brooke's cheeks turned red, and she realized where she was, who she was with, and what they were doing. She was not supposed to be here laughing with Lucas Scott. She glanced over to Haley, who looked to be in a very uncomfortable situation with Nathan and Peyton.

"Who are you looking at?" Lucas asked, noticing her sudden silence and her gaze to the other side of the room.

"Oh, my best friend, Haley. She's with, well your brother and his girlfriend."

"If you want to call her that." He laughed, knowing very well the reality of Nathan and Peyton's relationship. He glanced up at the clock, realizing the bell to dismiss them would ring at any minute.

"Well, Brooke Davis. It's been a pleasure talking to you this past hour, and I'm really glad you're my lab partner. It might actually be a decent semester." He smiled at her, and gathered his things. He walked out the door just as the bell rang, leaving Brooke sitting there speechless.

* * *

"So how was your hour with the King and Queen of Tree Hill?" Brooke asked Haley as they walked home from school. 

"Oh my god, Brooke, she's awful."

"Well, I figured that much. Are they really the Super Couple everyone makes them out to be?"

"No, there was a lot of tension. It was so uncomfortable!"

"Yeah, I noticed you were looking pretty awkward over there." She laughed at Haley.

"What about you? You guys looked like you were old friends. What was _that_ about?" Haley lifted a suspicious eyebrow.

"I don't know. For a while we were having a great time, and he was so nice to talk to."

"Ok, so what's wrong with that?"

"He's Lucas Scott, Haley. THE Lucas Scott. Don't forget who we are. He's just my lab partner, and before and after chemistry he won't even know I exist. "

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Haley said back to her. Deep down she had wished more than that, for Brooke's sake, and for hers too. Something in her heart ached when she looked at Nathan, but in a good way.

"Let's go to the game tonight, Brooke."

"Haley, did you even listen to me?" Brooke jokingly yelled.

"I know Brooke, but that doesn't mean we can't go to a basketball game. We never go, ever. Let's just go this once, just to see what the fuss is all about." Haley looked at Brooke with pleading eyes.

"Fine." Brooke gave in. "We'll go."

Haley squealed and clapped her hands with excitement, a trait she had learned from Brooke.

* * *

Brooke sat at Haley's vanity, applying a final layer of mascara. She stood up and looked at Haley, who was sitting on the bed. "How do I look?" she asked. 

Haley looked her up and down. She wore a jean skirt, and a blue halter top. Her hair was in soft curls, and she wore blue flip flops to match the outfit. Haley had always thought Brooke was beautiful, but when she really put herself to it, Brooke could be absolutely stunning.

"Amazing," she replied. "As usual."

"Whatever, Hales. You look pretty amazing yourself."

Haley was sporting a white top that Brooke had designed for her, jeans, and white flips flops. She had decided to keep her hair down as well, but left it straight.

Haley had tried persuaded her parents to allow her to borrow their car, not wanting to walk in the dark. She had, failed however, and stormed out of the house. "Hope I don't get raped tonight!" She half joked / half ranted as she slammed the door.

"Nice Haley, way to make me feel even better about this night." Brooke teased.

Haley and Brooke may not have been born into a wealthy family, and usually couldn't afford extravagant shopping sprees, but they sure as hell could sport the non-designer clothes they put on. It was something they didn't realize, but as they walked into the gym that night, they had definitely turned more than one head.

* * *

"Ok, so we got hot dogs, nachos, and candy. We went to the bathroom, walked around the halls, and saw way too much making outage in that back corner. Now what are we supposed to do?" Brooke asked Haley. It was half time, and they had walked around trying to figure out what it is you're supposed to do during half time. 

"I don't know, but it looks like half time is almost over." She said pointing to the clock. They walked and stood in the door way of the gymnasium. Haley heard Peyton squeal behind her, and before she could turn around to see what had happened, Nathan ran out from behind them, followed by Lucas. Neither had smiled or said hello. They hadn't even looked in the girls general direction/

Brooke looked over a Haley and noticed that she was feeling the same hurt that she was.

"You want to get out of here?" She asked.

"More than you even know."

They walked back out of the gym, not going unnoticed by either Scott brother. Both felt a wave of guilt, knowing they had just snubbed the two girls on purpose. Nathan realized that he was the one who had asked Haley, and in a round-a-bout way Brooke, to come see the game. Lucas felt bad because he knew he had never seen Brooke, or her friend Haley for that matter, at a game before. He knew that she had probably come because they had had a great conversation that afternoon, and believed they were friends. But both Nathan and Lucas weren't about to get caught talking to them, not with the entire town watching. But still, it didn't make the guilt go away.


	4. What Hurts The Most

**Another Kind of Green**

**  
**

_What Hurts The Most_

The next week for Brooke was almost unbearable. Luckily, she had her Fashion and History classes, where most of the time she didn't even think about Lucas, and English was tolerable because she had Haley by her side. However, she did have to go to Health class, where he sat diagonal to her, but she could avoid his glances by staring down at whatever happened to be on her desk that day. But Chemistry was the worst. She couldn't avoid him, she had to speak to him throughout lab. And that was all she would talk about -the procedure at hand. Sometimes he would try to bring up general conversation, but Brooke either ignored him or interrupted with a question about what they were supposed to be doing. She was relieved that he hadn't tried to confront her about the game. But then again, why would he?

Haley had a slightly better time than Brooke, but she was just as hurt by the situation. She only had to see Nathan in English, and she could shut herself off from the group in Chemistry, allowing Nathan and Peyton to do all the talking.

* * *

It had been a week since the incident at the game, and to everyone else besides Lucas, Nathan, Brooke, and Haley – life was normal. Even Peyton hadn't thought twice about Nathan hurting Haley. She hadn't even noticed Haley at the game.

They all sat at their desks, waiting for the bell to ring signifying that English had begun.

All around him, Lucas could hear his friends talk about the latest gossip, information on all the parties to be held this weekend, and other unimportant matters. He glanced over to the other side of the room. He had taken it deeply to heart that he had hurt Brooke, because that was in no means his intentions. He had noticed all week a hint of sadness in her eyes and behavior, something that her friend carried as well. He knew in time they would be forgiven, and everything would go back to the way it used to be. The sound of the bell brought him back to reality.

"Ok, so we're going to see how many of you have actually read the first half of the book. We're going to take a group quiz."

Students sat up with looks of excitement, not sure if they had heard her right.

"Group quiz!" Tim shouted, and started to form his group.

"What I mean by 'group' is the entire class will partake in it. I will ask you several questions out loud, and someone has to answer. One person cannot answer twice. If you fail, or cannot answer all the questions, you all fail."

The looks of excitement slowly turned to looks of worry and anxiety, most of the students swearing at themselves for not reading the novel.

"Ok. First question. Complete this quote: "it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a "

A brunette girl in the front shyly raised her hand.

"Yes, Sonia?"

"Wife." she said quietly.

"Yes. That's correct."

The teacher continued to ask questions, fear growing with the others knowing that as each question was answered, it left them with one less person to answer the next.

"Someone please explain the importance of wealth and class standing in the novel."

Brooke raised her hand, and after being called on, she began to speak.

"It seems like everything in this novel is about wealth. Mrs. Bennet, and even some of her daughters look to marry only for wealth, just as everyone else does. I thought it was quite shallow that even though Jane was in love with Mr. Bingley, everyone else focused on his house, or his money. I found it even more shallow how Mr. Bingley's sisters could treat everyone with disrespect to those who were less advantaged of them. I admire Elizabeth for being able to see through it all, and especially through Mr. Darcy."

Before the teacher had a chance to compliment her answer, Lucas raised his hand.

"Yes, Lucas?" she asked.

"I think Brooke is misunderstanding Mr. Darcy. Even though he appears to be too proud, and well quite stuck up, he himself was falling in love with Elizabeth knowing very well her birth rank, her class and her wealth."

He looked at Brooke, who looked away as he met her gaze.

"I can see Lucas' point, but I find it sad that the very principles of this novel still exist today. The rich and famous still get to look down on those not so fortunate." Brooke retaliated.

It was then that Lucas realized this conversation hit closer to home. He looked at Brooke, amazed that she related her own life to the novel they were assigned for an English class. It had surprised him that she was a girl who actually had some depth to her.

"I think you still need to give Mr. Darcy a chance." he said, trying to bring the subject back to the novel. "This is after all a love story, and he has already started to fall in love with Elizabeth. Maybe, he will prove to us the importance of wealth and status really doesn't matter."

"Well, let's hope he has enough guts to break through that social wall. We all know it's hard for the elite to break away from their group.." Brooke said, with a look of disgust in her eyes. She was upset he could go on and on like that, not even realizing that he wouldn't allow to himself to befriend someone who didn't fit into his own 'elite' group.

The teacher, however, smiled being very well pleased that this discussion had turned into a deeper discussion. To be more exact, it had turned into a well defended debate.

"Well, you all can thank Mr. Scott and Miss Davis for your first passing quiz grade. I hope all of you can put as much interest into the novel as they have."

* * *

"So, are we going to talk about what happened in there?" Haley said after they had sat quietly at lunch for almost ten minutes.

"Haley, they'll never get it - how much they can step all over us and not even realize how much it hurts." Her eyes started to water.

"Brooke, why are you getting so upset about this? We've always known they're jerks, why should it be any different now?"

"Because.." she whispered. "For once, I actually gave him the benefit of the doubt. I haven't ever felt like that talking to anyone, ever. It scares me, Haley."

Haley nodded, completely knowing what she was going through. She had given Nathan her own benefit of the doubt, only to have it shoved back in her face.

* * *

Lucas sat in the cafeteria, literally stunned. Half of him was amazed by the conversation he had just had with Brooke in front of the entire class. Besides Jake, he really didn't talk to anyone about literature, and for once it was nice to just hear a difference of opinion. The other half of him was aching, knowing that her words were more correct than even he wanted to believe. It just wasn't that easy for him to cross boundaries, even though he became more and more interested in the person Brooke really was.

* * *

After the discussion in English, Brooke was dreading the thought of Chemistry. She had thought about skipping the class altogether, but she knew that they had a lab today (mainly why she wanted to skip) and Lucas couldn't do it on his own. If Lucas failed the lab, so did she.

She walked into the classroom, practically having to drag Haley along with her. Neither one of them had had any positive thoughts about this class for the last week.

After class had started, and the teacher had explained all details to regarding the lab.

Luckily, for Brooke, the lab only lasted half of the class period. Brooke and Lucas had spoken to each other only when necessary for the lab. Brooke had noticed that Haley had pretty much been pushed to the side of the group for most of the lab. It appeared, to Brooke, that Nathan was hiding the same way Lucas was – by simply avoiding it.

As they all cleaned their lab stations, and headed back to their seats, they all found a paper on their desks. 'Mole Project.' was typed across the top.

"As most of you have already read," the teacher said. "You have a project to do. You will work with your lab partners in designing a way to really show how big a 'mole' is. For example, I once had student show that if you stacked a mole of pennies on top of each other, the tower would go to the moon and back thousands of times. I will give extra points for creativity. Start with something small, a grain of sand or a hair pin, and work big. I'll let you discuss with your partners now. This is due Monday."

Lucas turned to Brooke, and they sat uncomfortably for several minutes before Lucas spoke up.

"So, do you have any ideas of what we could do."

"No, not really." she said shortly.

"Well, do you want to get together tonight to work on it. I have a game tomorrow, but we could also work on Sunday, if we didn't finish it tonight."

"Ok, that's fine."

"Should we work at your house or mine?"

"Yours." She said almost too quickly. She had already been made a fool in front of Lucas Scott, and now she was avoiding the situation with all cost. She knew that his mother was rather successful, and that their home was really nice. Hers, on the other hand, was something she was ashamed of. She hardly even took Haley there.

"Ok, great. Well, here's my address." He started to write on a piece of paper when Brooke waved her hand.

"Lucas, we've both lived in Tree Hill for our entire lives. I walk by your house everyday on the way to school. I know where you're house is." She tried to smile as she spoke.

"Oh. ok. Well, I'll see you later then." He returned to his seat to gather his things, and started to walk to the door. Just as he put his hand on the door, the bell rang.

'Even his timing is perfect." Brooke thought to herself.

* * *

"So you're going to his house tonight?"

"Yeah, I just hope we get it done tonight so I don't have to go back there again."

"We're not even starting until Sunday." Haley said with an apparent disgust in her voice. She did not like to procrastinate her work, especially a huge project for an important class.

They continued to walk until they reached Lucas' house.

"Are you supposed to meet him now?" Haley asked, confused as to why they had stopped.

"No, I was just thinking."

"What about, Brooke?"

"How sad it is that I've known this was Lucas Scott's house since I was in first grade. I remember seeing him outside, on his bike or with a basketball, or sometimes I would see him sitting on the front steps with a book in his hands. It's just sad he didn't even know I existed until a week ago."

"Ah!" Haley said with a smile. "So you were in love with him even when you were a little girl."

She laughed, but Brooke did not find this funny, and shot Haley a look of death.

As they continued to walk home, a fear consumed Brooke. What if Haley was right?

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	5. Behind These Hazel Eyes

**A/N: **_thanks for all the reviews guys, they're amazing. i'm glad that some of you really enjoyed the english class bit. _

_Tiffany Rae-don't be sorry for the long review! i'm glad you think i'm being realistic about the story. i'm really trying to make it that way, so i'm glad you think so!_

_lele- everyone looks/and is just as they would be on the show. the only difference is that brooke is poor and she's been friends with haley most of her life, so i figured she would be a little different. the brooke we all know is still in her, don't worry :)_

**Another Kind of Green**

_Behind These Hazel Eyes_

Lucas sat in his bedroom, thinking back to the practice he'd just came home from. He had missed 23 shots. _Twenty three._ Lucas hardly missed any shots, whether it was at practices or at games. Both Whitey and Nathan had confronted him about it. He had simply replied that his head ached, and he would be fine for tomorrow's game.

But deep down, he knew what his problem was. He was rethinking the events of the day. Going over every word that was said. What got to him the most, however, was that he was nervous about Brooke coming to his house. He had _never_ been nervous about anyone, girl or guy, coming to his house.

* * *

Brooke left her house, in tears, and headed straight for Haley's. She hated when her parents were home. She hadn't expected either of them until another week or so, but when she walked in, they already were heated in a fight. She stepped through the glass that had once been a vase, and started to walk to her room, only to be stopped by her father, who had grabbed her wrist and was holding it rather tightly. _**Too**_ tightly, and Brooke winced in pain. She could smell the alcohol on his breath. 

"And where are you going Miss?" he slurred.

"I have a school project to do. I need to get going, Dad." she tried to sound cheery, hoping he would let her go.

"Am I supposed to believe that?"

"Yeah, call anybody in my class. Call Haley! Dad, I have to go."

He let go of her hand, not saying anything. She ran into her room, realizing there was nothing in there she needed, and left through the back door, avoiding her parents at all cost.

She missed them when they were gone, and hated them when they were here. They all used to be happy, she could remember that. Her father had been a successful businessman, and they lived in a really nice house. But he had lost it all, and her parents dream of being wealthy fell with it. Her father turned into an angry alcoholic and her mother turned into a shell of a person. Sadly, Brooke realized the money was the only thing that held her family together at the time.

By the time she had arrived at Haley's she was a sobbing mess. Haley opened the door, and immediately knew what was wrong. This wasn't the first time Brooke has shown up like this. After becoming so close with Brooke, she had started the learn that Brooke had levels of emotion. She was only like _this_ when her parents were home.

She took Brooke into her arms, pulling her into the house. The sat in her living room for almost ten minutes, Haley allowing Brooke to get it all out. There were no words that needed to be said, Haley knew that. More or less, she knew there was nothing she could say anymore. Brooke's problem with her parents had gone back just as long as Haley and Brooke did. Brooke used to talk about her family being happy, but Haley wasn't around at that time.

After a few more minutes, Brooke sat up, her eyes puffy and red.

"I have to go to Lucas'. I can't go like this."

Haley knew she was right, Brooke looked a mess. Her hair was tangled, her eye makeup was all over her face, and her swollen eyes didn't help the matter. Haley had also noticed Brooke's red wrist, which was already turning blue and purple.

"Well, then we'll have to get you ready for the ball Cinderella." Haley smiled. "You can take a shower here, that should help your eyes. And it's not like you don't have any clothes here."

Brooke thanked Haley, for helping and for being her best friend, and headed up to the shower.

After she had taken a shower, she had gotten dressed. Her and Haley had decided on something with longer sleeves, so that maybe she could hide the bruise on her hand. That was the last thing she wanted Lucas or his family to believe, that she was abused. She wasn't. Her parents weren't around enough for her to get abused.

She finished getting ready, thanked Haley again, and left for Lucas' house.

She arrived, standing in front of the house that belonged to Lucas and his mother. She suddenly felt extremely nervous. She stepped up to the doors, and rang the doorbell. She counted to ten, and decided to turn around and run away, but was stopped when she heard the door knob turn. A middle aged woman with brown curly hair opened the door.

"You must be Brooke." the woman genuinely smiled at her."I'm Karen, Lucas' mother. It's a pleasure to have you."

She let Brooke in, and as they stepped into the house, Brooke noticed Lucas coming around the corner.

"Hey Brooke." he forced a smile.

"Hey."

They went into the kitchen, were they sat discussing ideas for their project.

"How about words?" Brooke said.

"Words?" he was slightly confused by this.

"Well, I enjoy reading, and from your speech earlier, you enjoy it too." Lucas was amazed at her ability to read his actions. "So how 'bout we do this. She said to start small, and I looked through some of the other projects after class with Haley to get more of an idea. So here's what we could do. We find out how many words are in a certain book. Then we divide that number from a mole of words and see how many books it makes. That way it can relate to us both. What do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea." He really was impressed.

They got to work on the project, Lucas figuring out the math after Brooke swearing she was awful at math, and Brooke making the visual display – a large book that would have the entire project throughout it's pages. Neither of them had noticed the comfortable conversation they had fallen into, just as they had that first day of Chemistry.

Lucas looked over at Brooke, who was hunched over a piece of poster board, marker in hand. His eye caught a glimpse of a bruise at the hemline of her shirt.

"What happened to your hand?" he asked.

Brooke look at him nervously, and tried to think of something, _anything,_ to say to him.

"I'm not really sure." She forced a laugh. "Have you ever had bruises show up not knowing what they were from?"

"Yeah, I guess I have." He left it at that, but in the back of his mind he was worried as to whether her story was true or not.

"Brooke, would you like to stay for dinner." Karen said as she walked into the room.

"I-uh, um." She didn't know how to answer.

"You should." Lucas said. "My mom's an amazing cook."

"Oh, Lucas stop." Karen blushed. "It would be my honor if you joined us Brooke."

"Sure," Brooke answered. She was going to say 'no' but after seeing the kindness in Karen's face, she couldn't refuse. "I'd love to." She also knew another part of her was avoiding going home.

* * *

Nathan had been driving around for the past hour. He had needed to clear his head. He and Peyton had gotten into yet another fight, another _stupid_ fight. Come to think of it, he couldn't even remember what it was about. He didn't want to be at home, knowing quite well his dad would want to have a 'pre-game' talk. 

He was driving through a neighborhood he didn't really recognize, which for being in Tree Hill, was unusual. He found the houses, in a weird way, interesting. They weren't huge houses like his, or even Peyton's. They weren't like Lucas' house, which was nice but comfortable at the same time. These houses all looked the same. Sure, he had seen this development before, but it wasn't familiar to him, and he was really taken back at how every house, from the color to the amount of windows, was identical.

He stopped the car when he noticed Haley sitting on the front porch of one of the houses. He looked up, asking God if this was some sort of mean joke. Even though they had hardly spoken in a week, he couldn't seem to get this girl out of his head. He got out of the car, deciding he would at least say 'hello.'

As he walked up to her house, he could see her, head down, reading a book.

"Whatcha reading?" he asked as he stepped up onto the porch.

Haley jumped when she heard the voice, but was more taken back by the figure it came from.

"Uh, _Pride and Prejudice._ I wanted to get the homework done so I wouldn't have to worry about it later in the weekend."

"Oh. Well that makes sense." He sifted his body, suddenly becoming very uncomfortable.

"Would you like to sit down?" she asked, scooting over on the porch swing.

"Sure." He walked over and took the seat beside her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Why would there be something wrong?" he said defensively.

"It just seems like there's something on your mind that's bothering you."

"Oh." he said. After several moments of contemplating, he spoke again. "It's Peyton." He needed someone to talk to, and he had always felt that Haley was a genuine person that he could talk to.

"Is she ok?" she asked, trying to sound concerned.

"Yeah. I just don't know what we're doing anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I just don't feel the same anymore."

His cell phone rang, and he held up his finger, motioning he'd be right back. He stepped away to take the call. Haley watched him, amazed at what had just happened. All night she had been forcing herself to get some homework done, but it was impossible because all she could think about was Nathan. And now here he was with her on his front porch. Somehow, it seemed fate was on her side.

Nathan walked back, putting his cell phone back into his pocket.

"Hey, I gotta go. But it was really nice talking to you."

"Yeah, you too."

He turned to walk back to his car, but stopped. He faced her.

"Hey Haley?"

"Yeah?" She asked looking up at him.

"Thanks." He smiled at her, a smile that made her heart do a flip.

She smiled. "Anytime."

* * *

Brooke had enjoyed having dinner with Lucas and Karen. They had held a light conversation, Lucas and Karen telling each other about their days, with Brooke just listening. Karen had turned the conversation to Brooke, asking several questions about her life and family. 

Brooke couldn't help but feel as if she were actually part of a family as she sat here with Lucas and Karen, feeling as if they actually listened and cared about what she was telling them. She was also amazed at how comfortable she had been all night.

Lucas' cell phone interrupted, and he stood up to leave the room to take the call. His mother shot him a glance indicating he was being rude.

"It's Nathan, mom. It'll only take a few minutes."

"Ok, be quick."

Karen and Brooke continued the conversation, but Brooke half listened to their conversation and half to the one Lucas was having in the other room. She couldn't hear all of it but heard bits and pieces of the conversation.

"_What time is the party?" _

"Yeah, I'll be there."

"No, I was just having dinner with Mom."

Brooke's heart sunk, realizing he wouldn't admit she was there too. Karen could hear the conversation too, and she had noticed Brooke's change of demeanor when she heard that comment. She sympathized with her, knowing very well what it felt like to have someone feel ashamed of you. Dan had been ashamed of her and Lucas for all of Lucas' life.

Lucas hung up the cell and returned to the table.

'Great,' he thought. 'Another party.' He had been actually been enjoying his night with Brooke, but he knew he couldn't not show up to a party. And he couldn't bring her.

His mom stood up, taking their plates into the kitchen.

"Are you that ashamed of being here with me?"

"What?" he asked, now knowing that she had heard his conversation.

"I heard what you said on the phone to Nathan. You didn't want to admit I was here with you."

"Brooke it-"

"No, it's okay Lucas. I understand. I had better get going anyways. I told Haley I'd meet her later." She said standing up. She walked into the kitchen to gather the rest of her things, being followed by Lucas.

"Are you leaving Brooke?" Karen asked noticing her gathering her things.

"Yeah, I have to meet a friend, and I think Lucas has somewhere to be."

"Oh, well thank you having dinner with us."

"Thank you for letting me stay, it was incredible. I had a really great time."

"Me too, you're welcome here anytime Brooke."

"Thank you." Brooke said and walked to the front door. She turned to face Lucas who had been following her ever since she stood up.

"I guess I'll see you Sunday to finish everything up." Her hand turned the knob of the door.

"I'm sorry, Brooke."

"You have nothing to be sorry for Lucas" She said stepping out the door.

It took everything inside of Lucas to not go chasing after her. Instead he walked back into the kitchen only to be greeted by one of those 'looks' from his mother.

"What?" he asked, trying to act naive.

"You know what." And that was all she said.


	6. Dreaming With A Broken Heart

**A/N: **_hey guys, sorry this chapter took so long, it's a long one though so i hope it makes up for it. keep those from virginia tech and their families in your thoughts and prayers._

**Another Kind of Green**

_Dreaming With A Broken Heart_

Lucas sat at the table, watching as most of his friends played random drinking games. He looked up and heard his name. He hadn't really been paying attention all night to much of anything, and his mind kept flashing back to Brooke's face right before she left. It had been so hurt, so betrayed. It pained his heart to even think about it.

"Lucas?" Peyton repeated.

He looked up and raised and eyebrow, indicating he was listening.

"Are you going to play this one?"

"Nah, I think I'm going to go to the porch. Next one, though, okay?"

He stood up and walked to the elaborate porch of whomever's beach house he was currently at. He found it kinda of pathetic that every week there was a new party at a new beach house, but he never knew who's party it was or whose house he was in. He looked over and noticed Nathan sitting on the steps.

"Not joining the festivities tonight, Nate?" he asked, sitting down beside him.

"I guess I'm really not into it."

"I know what you mean little brother."

"I've been thinking a lot about what you said the other day." Nathan said after several minutes.

"What's that?"

"How you're just tired of all of this."

"Oh, right."

"I guess I feel that way too."

Lucas was surprised by Nathan's confession. He secretly wondered what, or who, had been the cause of his change of heart.

"I was sitting in there with everyone. Peyton, Tim, Bevin, all of 'em, and we were playing some stupid game that I don't even remember. Then I looked up and realized I didn't want to be there anymore."

Lucas nodded in agreement, knowing he felt the same way.

"For a while, we had fun didn't we?" Again, Lucas nodded. "But now it's like there's nothing except a hangover in the morning. I guess I just want something more."

Lucas continued to say nothing. Nathan rarely shared his true feelings, and he knew that Nathan needed to say all of this. Not so much for Lucas to hear his words, but really for himself to hear.

"But then, I realized – I can't just up and leave. Neither of us can. It's not like we can just walk in there right now and announce that we're done. None of them would allow it. And besides, I've heard it's a hard fall from the top, a fall that I really don't want to make."

"So what do we do, Nate?"

"I guess we have to realize that this is our life right now, and we have the rest of our lives to find something more."

Lucas just stared out at the sea. As much as he knew Nathan was right, he had hoped that maybe there was another side to it.

"So, we keep on playing the game?" he asked Nathan.

"We keep on playing the game." They both stood up to head back into the party.

* * *

The next few days passed slowly for Brooke, Haley, Lucas and Nathan. Lucas and Nathan had a basketball game the day following the party, and as usual the Ravens were victorious. Sunday Brooke went over to Lucas' to finish their project, where that sat in total silence unless there was something to be said about the project. It was definitely one of the most uncomfortable situations either of them had been in. Luckily, it only took an hour or so to put all the finishing touches on their project.

It was an even more awkward situation for Haley. She had gone to Nathan's house to meet him and Peyton to work on their project. Nathan sat in the corner and played playstation the entire time, leaving Peyton and Haley to do the project. Haley had tried to make some sort of small talk, but it didn't come to much avail.

The following week passed by even slower. Brooke dreaded everyone of her classes she had with Lucas, and spoke as much as was needed when it came to Chemistry.

Lucas had hoped that this awkwardness would be lifted at some point, but by the end of the week, he realized it wasn't going away for a long time.

* * *

Brooke sat in her Heath class, which had turned out to be more of a study hall than anything, filing her manicured nails, trying to fix the mistakes Haley had made the day before. She heard someone whisper "Psst." and toss a note onto her desk. She opened it up.

_Hey, there's a party tonight at my beach house. You should, like, totally come.- Bevin_

Brooke looked at the girl, with a questioning look in her face. The girl smiled, and then nodded.

Brooke wrote back:

_Look, if this is some sort of joke, count me out._

Bevin read the note, her face looking puzzle. She scribbled onto the paper and handed it back.

_No, no. It's not like that. It's just there's always the same people, and I don't know, I figured you were somewhat cool and you should totally come. Mix things up a little bit. Bring your friend - that girl you're always with. It starts after the game. _

Brooke sat there staring at the note for a few moments. Since when was she even "somewhat cool' ? She wrote back.

_I'll try._

Bevin flashed a smile at her and clapped her hands, gaining attention from people around them. Brooke blushed, but Bevin just shrugged it off, assuring the others that there was nothing to be gawking at behind them.

* * *

It took Brooke a lot less effort in convincing Haley to go to the party than she had expected. Of course Haley had been reluctant the first time Brooke had asked, but she had agreed to go after the second time. Even though neither said it aloud, they were both excited about a chance to see Nathan and Lucas, especially outside of something that was related to school. They both knew that had been hurt, badly, but that didn't make that butterfly feeling in their hearts disappear. They sat in Haley's room, discussing the subject.

"Besides" Brooke said to Haley "What is high school without a little par-tay!"

Haley laughed. Brooke had always had that party girl spirit in her.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Haley responded. "So, uh, what do you wear to a party hosted by the _bold and the beautiful._" She laughed.

Brooke smiled and gave Haley a devilish grin. She totally had this covered. She was after all, aspiring to become a fashion designer.

* * *

Earlier that evening, Brooke and Haley had decided that given what had happened at the last Ravens game they had attended, that they would just skip the game, and make a short appearance at the party. If anything seemed wrong, or either of them felt uncomfortable, they would bail.

Brooke noticed that it was 10:30, and they decided it was time to leave. She gave Haley, and herself, a final look over, and applied the finishing touches, before leaving. They had both decided to leave their hair down and curly. Haley wore a brown satin halter top that fit her to a tee, tied with jeans and brown pointed high heeled shoes. Brooke had decided on a dark red top, straight leg jeans with brown boots.

"Ok, seriously Brooke – those boots are awesome." Haley said as Brooke zipped up her boot.

"Twenty bucks at Meijer, no joke." She flashed a smile at Haley. Haley had to give her credit – Brooke may not be a millionaire, but she could seriously _look _like a million dollars.

"Alright, Tutorgirl you ready?"

"As long as you don't call me Tutorgirl while we're there." She winked at Brooke.

* * *

Haley and Brooke arrived at Bevin's beach house a little after 11:00. Once again, Haley's parents had once again refused her the car, so they had to walk. Haley laughed thinking it was no clue as to how they kept up their figures. Walking across town in majorly high heels could beat any stairmaster.

As they approached the door, neither knew what to do. Were they supposed to knock, or ring the door bell? Inside they could hear loud music, loud voices and laughter. Brooke made the decision to walk in, figuring that no one would be able to hear the door bell anyways. She turned the door knob and opened the door.

* * *

Lucas sat bored at yet another Raven's victory party. He had contemplated leaving several times, but realized he really had nowhere else to be. He sat there, and started to wonder where Brooke may be at this time, what would she be doing. He heard laughter at the table to his left, and music to his right. His head turned as he noticed the door opening. 'Ok. Who else would be coming?' he thought looking around the room. Everyone from the usual crowd was already here. When he finally saw the two brunettes stepping through the door, he dropped his drink, spilling it all over the floor.

* * *

"Brooke!" Bevin yelled running over to the girls. "I'm so glad you came! Is this your friend?"

"Oh, yeah this is Haley."

"You girls looks totally hot! Come on in, we've already got drinks going and dancing is in the other room."

"Haley, stay near me." Brooke whispered to her friend. Haley gave a weak smile in response. This was definitely going to be a historic evening for the both of them.

They stepped out of the hall to be greeted by dozens of eyes belonging to cheerleaders and basketball players, and other members of that group. Brooke's mind flashed to that first day in Health class when she walked in to be greeted just as she was now. It was an uncomfortable feeling for sure.

"Ok, so we were in the middle of playing a game of quarters, but if you guys want to join in you're more than welcome. " 

Haley looked at Brooke with an uncomfortable expression.

"We're just going to hang out for a bit, but thanks." Brooke said quietly.

"Ok, have fun! Go find yourself a hottie or two!" Bevin called, returning to her game.

Haley, however, had already found her 'hottie.' Through the glass doors she could see him sitting on the steps of the back porch.

"Brooke," Haley started. But Brooke had already followed her gaze.

"Go Haley. I'll be fine." She offered her friend a smile.

Haley left after feeling confident that her friend was ok with it, and walked outside to sit next to Nathan. He looked up, surprised at what he saw.

"Hey Haley. What are ya doing here?"

"Oh, you know. I spend every Friday night at some rich extravagant beach house with Tree Hill's finest."

"I didn't mean to-"

"Oh, I wasn't trying to make a joke. I guess it wasn't very good." She laughed. "Bevin invited Brooke."

"Well, I'm really glad she brought you with her." He offered a genuine smile.

They sat for a few minutes on the porch, looking out to the sea. Haley noticed it had started to rain. 'Great.' she thought. 'Looks like a fun walk home!'

"So, what's up?" She asked, and then reminded herself to smack herself after she left. 'Gee Haley, way to knock him out of the park with that one.'

"Actually, I'm good. Me and Peyton ended, well, whatever we were tonight."

"Oh, Nathan. I'm sorry."

"Nah, don't be. It was actually a mutual thing. I guess it's been coming for a long time."

"Oh." It was the only word Haley could think of to say.

"I'm relieved though. It's been something I've been avoiding for awhile."

"Well, as long as you're happy."

"Yeah, I am. I think it might actually be a good thing to be single for a while."

Haley's heart sank. Although she knew he wouldn't confess his love to her right then and there, a lot of her hoped for a least a sign that he felt the same way that she did.

"Well, if anything happens, and you need somebody to talk to, I'm here." She accepted that maybe she could at least be his friend.

* * *

Brooke leaned against the wall, watching as couples danced and grinded on each other in Bevin's rather large den.

"Need a drink?" She heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Oh, hey Lucas." She said turning to face him, taking the drink.

"Having a good time?"

"Yeah." She forced a smile. In all honesty, she was miserable. She wasn't ready to join the gang at the drinking games table, she didn't have anyone to dance with, and Haley had left to go be with Nathan.

"Yeah, I'm bored as hell too." He smiled at her.

"How could you tell?" Her face reddened at how easily he had read her.

"Well, no one sulks in a corner if they're having a good time."

"Oh." She laughed. "Right."

"I'm really sorry, Brooke."

"No Lucas-"

"No, I just wanted to say it. I'm sorry for hurting you." 

"Hey, you guys have to play this game!" Bevin yelled at them.

Lucas sighed, realizing that his time to talk to Brooke had once again been interrupted. They walked over to the table, sitting opposite each other. Nathan and Haley were also ushered in to play the game, and they took their seats as well. Brooke sat next to Bevin, and was flanked to her left by Haley and Nathan.

"Ok everybody! The game is called 'I Never.'" Peyton said loudly from her seat next to Lucas.

"Um, how's that one go again?" Brooke said shyly, trying to make it not obvious she hadn't even heard of it.

"Okay." Bevin started. "I say something I have never done. Anyone at the table who has done it, must take a shot. Make sense?"

Both Haley and Brooke nodded their heads.

"Great! Ok, Tim you start."

"Ok." Tim looked around. "I never had sex in the janitor's closet at school."

Both Haley and Brooke were shocked by his statement, but were even more shocked when several people from the table took a drink. The game went rounds, Haley and Brooke feeling more and more naive as each of them hadn't taken a single drink.

"Ok, my turn, my turn!" Peyton slurred.

"I never..." She started. 'I never pretended I was more than white trash."

She smiled and looked at Brooke and Haley.

Lucas immediately shot Peyton a glare. "What is the matter with you?" he hissed.

"What?" She laughed.

Brooke could feeling dozens of eyes staring at her as her eyes started to water. Not wanting to embarrass herself even more by crying, she stood up and ran out the door.

Haley shot Peyton a look of disgust, glanced at Nathan, and then stood up and ran after Brooke. She stepped outside and look down both sidewalks, not seeing Brooke down either one.

* * *

Lucas and Nathan stood up at the same time, both heading for the door. They stepped out to see Haley, soaked from standing in the rain, looking helpless.

"Haley, where's Brooke?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know." Her voice cracked through her tears. "I didn't see where she ran off to. I.. I. I don't know where she is." Her sobs continued to grow heavier and heavier.

"Where are some of her favorite places, Haley? Where would she go if something bad happened?" Lucas asked. He knew that if he had been in Brooke's shoes, he would have gone straight to the river court.

"That's what I was just trying to think about. She goes to the mall when times get rough." Haley said. "But Lucas, the mall is closed."

"Well, it's better than standing around here waiting for her."

He got into his truck and pulled away, praying that he had a chance of finding Brooke.

* * *

Lucas pulled into an abandoned parking lot. He could see the mall was closed - it was pitch black inside. He drove around the lot several times, hoping that maybe she would be there. That's when he saw her, huddled next the the stone wall of the mall.

He parked the car, and ran over to her. She looked up at him with bloodshot eyes but quickly downcast her eyes again. He didn't know what to say, knowing that nothing could make her feel better.

"Brooke, I'm so sorry."

She didn't say anything. She didn't even look up.

"Don't listen to Peyton, Brooke. She's horrible. They're all monsters."

"I'm not mad at her Lucas." She said quietly. "I'm mad at myself. I actually believed I might be accepted by you, and by your friends. I thought that maybe the fact that my family's not rich might not matter to you guys. I thought that maybe you might actually like me, for me. But clearly, I was wrong."

His heart ached for her. "Brooke, I'm sorry. I can try and make this ok. Just tell me what you want me to do."

"I wanna go home. Take me to Haley's."

"Ok."

She gave him Haley's address, and they rode the rest of the way in silence. As they pulled up to Haley's house, Lucas looked over at her. She was a mess. She was completely soaked, makeup running down her face. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. But looking over at her, Lucas couldn't help but think how gorgeous she really was.

"Thanks for the ride." She said, her voice hoarse.

She was completely broken, and the only thing he wanted to do was take her into his arms, and save her from the pain she was feeling.

"Anything for you."

She turned her head, taken back by his reply.

"I guess I really had myself fooled huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"For a minute there, I thought that maybe I was more than nothing. I actually thought I could be apart of _your_ world."

Before she gave him a chance to respond, she slid out of the car and walked up to the house.

Lucas sat for a moment thinking about what she had said, and he realized that he wanted her in his life more than anything. He _wanted_ her in his world. His heart told him to chase after her, and tell her everything that he was feeling. But he just couldn't bring himself to do it. She had already been so hurt, and he just didn't want to risk hurting her even more, or confuse her, or push her farther away than she already was. So he just drove away.

* * *

Nathan and Haley sat on the front porch of Bevin's house. Her head was rested on his shoulder, and his arm was safely around hers.

"Brooke's going to be ok, Haley. Luke's probably already found her and taken her home."

"Well, then I had better get home seeing as how she'd be there."

"What?"

"Brooke's staying with me for a while, so she doesn't ha-" She stopped when she realized what she was saying. "Uh, anyways, I'd better go. Thanks for everything."

She stood up, and started on her walk home. Nathan's heart ached as he watched her walk away.

'Screw it.' He thought.

"Haley!" she stopped and looked at him.

Nathan walked over to her in large strides, taking her into his arms and pulling her into a kiss.

She pulled away, looked up at him, and then back down. Her heart was doing summer salts, and she wasn't sure this was the right thing to be doing. She looked back up at him, and he smiled at her, putting his hand on her cheek. Once again, he pulled her into a kiss, only this time she didn't pull away.


	7. Suddenly, Everything Has Changed

**Another Kind of Green**

_Suddenly, Everything Has Changed _

"Haley!" Brooke squealed.

"What?"

"Don't you 'what' me Haley James! You just said you _kissed_ Nathan Scott!"

"No. Actually, I said Nathan Scott kissed _me."_

"But you kissed back!" Brooke raised her eyebrow as she said this.

"Okay... wouldn't you?" She smiled at Brooke.

"Alright, good point." Brooke smiled back at Haley. "Oh my god, Haley. What does this mean? Are you guys dating now? Or what?"

"Uh, well, actually, I don't know." Haley said softly.

"You don't know? What did he say after he kissed you Haley?"

"Well, We didn't really talk about it."

"You guys didn't talk at ALL about this?"

"No."

"What a jerk! If he thinks that he's gonn-"

"Brooke. I walked away. I just walked away from him grinning like an idiot."

"What?" Brooke asked stifling a laugh. Haley always had the best reactions to situations like this.

"I was afraid, ok? I was afraid that if we actually talked about it, he would realize how stupid it was, and everything would go away. So I just walked away."

Brooke broke out into a laugh, and eventually Haley joined her. They laid there on Haley's bed, laughing hysterically for several minutes. Finally, Brooke spoke up.

"So... how was it?" She said sitting up.

"Amazing!" Haley exclaimed.

"I can't believe you actually walked away without saying a word!" Brooke laughed again.

"Ok, I know. Classic Haley. Shut up. I didn't kn-" She stopped mid-sentence.

"You didn't what?" Brooke asked.

"Shh... did you hear that?"

"No."

"Ok, you have to be quiet to hear it Brooke! Shhh... listen." Haley said softly.

Sure enough, Brooke could hear a faint tapping noise.

"What is that?" She asked Haley quietly.

"I don't know." Haley said, standing up and walking over to the window.

"Oh my god!" she gasped.

"What!?!"

"It's... Nathan! He's outside!"

"Well, what's he doing out there?"

"He's throwing rocks... at...my... parent's bedroom window." She giggled.

Brooke giggled with her. "Well, go get him Tutorgirl!"

* * *

Nathan was _freezing._ He had been standing outside of Haley's house for several minutes in the pouring rain. For being an excellent athlete, he had yet to actually hit the window that he was hoping belonged to Haley's bedroom.

"Are you trying to wake up my parents?" He heard a voice behind him. "Cause that's their room."

"Haley!" he said surprised, turning to face her.

"Nathan, what are you doing here? Besides catching pneumonia."

"I had to see you Haley. You just walked away, and I need to talk to you."

"What do you need to talk about?"

"Well, us, the kiss earlier. Everything."

"Oh." Haley said quietly. Already, she knew where this was going. "It's okay Nathan. I know it didn't really mean anything." She started to walk back up to the house.

"No! Haley!" he called after her, causing her to stop and turn to face him again. "I can't deny this anymore. I'm going crazy, Haley. You are driving me crazy!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you."

"No, not like that." He smiled at her. "I cannot stop thinking about you. I look forward to every time I get to talk to you, and every moment I get to spend time with you. You are always on my mind, and I've never been like this -- felt like this before. Ever."

"Oh."

"I came here, praying you at least feel the same way, even if it's a little bit. I'm falling in love with you Haley. I need you to know that."

Haley didn't know what to do, or what to say. Should she tell him the truth and how she really felt? Or should she lie and protect herself?

Instead, she did neither and walked up to him without saying a word and kissed him. When they finally broke apart, he looked down at her and smiled so genuinely it made her go weak in the knees.

"So where does this leave us?" He asked, wrapping his arms around her.

She laid her head on his chest. "I don't know. You tell me."

"I think it means we're together."

"But what about your friends, and the school, and your parents. What about _everything?_"

"I don't know, Haley. I just need to be with you. We can keep it quiet for a while, and break things in slowly."

"So you want me to be your secret girlfriend?" She said, a little angry.

"Haley, it's not like that. Trust me. I've thought about this so much, and as much as I want to be with you, they can be so horrible. We both saw it tonight. I want to protect you from that." He lifted her chin gently with his finger. "Please, trust me."

Looking into his eyes, she couldn't resist. She knew he was being honest, and she knew that he really did want to save her from everything.

"So, just break it in slowly?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Ok." She said smiling.

His hand shifted to her cheek, and he gently caressed it with his thumb. He pulled her closer into him, wrapping his arms around her once more. They stood there for several moments, both of them just happy to finally be in each other's arms.

* * *

Brooke watched sadly from the window as Haley and Nathan embraced each other for what seemed like hours. Of course, she was genuinely happy for her best friend, but deep down, she felt a sting of jealousy.

She found a pad of paper in Haley's desk, and wrote her letter to Lucas. She had started writing letters to him when she was a freshmen, after Haley had convinced her to tell him that she liked him. She wrote a long letter, confessing her love to him, and had planned on giving it to him. But when the moment came, she backed out. She told Haley she just threw it away, but in reality she took it home and put it in a shoe box under her bed. It became a form of therapy for her, writing him letters every so often. She eventually stopped writing them in the middle of her sophomore year, when she saw Lucas and some blonde cheerleader all over him in the halls at school. It broke her heart, but she thought it had given her a form of closure on her school girl crush. Now she realized how wrong she was. Since the beginning of this year, she had started writing them again, and it became constant at the start of the new semester. Every letter was different. Some were angry, others were sad. Some just told him about her day, and all the things in her life. The only thing constant about these letter was that she wrote them everyday.

Today's letter spoke of her jealousy. She explained to him her joy for Haley and Nathan, but how much she longed for it to be her with him. She wished she could just have something_ – anything_ with him.

After she finished the letter, she rummaged through Haley's stuff to find an envelope. She addressed the letter, and write a small number on the back corner of the envelope, 63.

She put the letter in her purse, reminding herself to put it into it's box when she arrived home in the morning.

She heard footsteps down the hall, so she went back and laid on Haley's bed to wait and hear all the details.

* * *

Lucas lay in bed, unable to sleep. Why didn't he do anything? Chase after her, or just say something? He was tired of his fears getting the best of him, and hurting her. He could see it in her eyes that night. The hurt she was feeling and he wanted to take it all away. He wanted to save her from all the pain she was in. He just didn't know how. In a way, she had declared that she felt, well, _something. _Her words replayed in his head.

"_I thought that maybe you might actually like me, for me."_

"_For a minute there, I thought that maybe I was more than nothing. I actually thought I could be apart of **your** world."_

He wanted her in his world. He knew that as much as he could save her from the troubles in this life, she could save him as well. Hell, it was more than want. He _needed _her in his world.

* * *

The next morning, Brooke carefully stepped into her house. As she stepped into the den she felt something fly past her - barely missing her head, and smash into the wall beside her. She looked down at the broken pieces of glass all around her.

"Whore!" a drunken voice yelled from the couch.

"Dad, shouldn't you be at work?" she said quietly.

She heard him mumble several unrecognizable words before she continued to walk into her room. She noticed a note from her mother on the fridge, but didn't care enough to stop and read it.

* * *

Nathan and Lucas sat at the counter at Karen's cafe, enjoying breakfast after an early morning practice.

"Okay, seriously?" Lucas asked after Nathan told him about the events of the previous night.

"Yeah." Nathan smiled." How is awesome is that?"

"I don't understand. How are you even going to do that? You're feeding her to the wolves, you realize that right?"

"We're just going to be 'friends' to everyone else. I just knew I could trust you with this. She's actually going to tutor me, which will help everyone believe we're friends I guess, allow me to spend more time with her, and for my grades to actually go up."

Lucas laughed. "So she's like your secret girlfriend?"

"God, why does everyone call it that?"

"Everyone?"

"Ok, just you and Haley. I'm just protecting her, Luke. I don't want them to hurt her until they've actually given her a chance, and gotten to know her."

"You can't save her from everything. Nate. I think you're going to end up hurting her this way."

"I don't think so though, Luke. I think this is the safest way."

"I just don't think I could do that. I don't think I could risk hurting them that way. I couldn't stand being someone else's secret, so I don't think I could make somebody mine. I couldn't do that to-" He stopped himself before finishing the sentence.

"To Brooke?" Nathan finished.

"Yeah." Lucas answered quietly.

"You got it pretty bad for her, huh?"

"I think I _love _her, Nate."

"I know, man. I know.


	8. Leave The Pieces

_This is for ILOVENATHAN23, otherwise I might not have updated. I've been super busy with work and school. This chapter may be short, but it's got the drama!_

**Another Kind of Green**

_Leave the Pieces_

Lucas looked down the hallway and saw Brooke standing at her locker. After debating the idea back and forth, he approached her. As he neared her, he could sense a feeling of sadness in her entire demeanor- her expressions, her body stance, and her appearance. She wore a t-shirt that said "UCLA" across the front, jeans, and tennis shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a simple pony tail. This took him by surprise. Sure, he had never been close or even friends with Brooke, but he had always known of her. It was common knowledge that she came from a poor family, but she always carried herself and appearance with dignity. In fact, Lucas had always admired that she displayed so much pride in herself, and he really admired the confidence she had in herself.

Realizing what he was thinking, Lucas stopped in his tracks. How stupid had he really been. Why was he realizing now that he had always admired Brooke? Had he always had these feelings for her? Why hadn't he realized this sooner? Better yet, why did he ignore these feelings?

Shaking his thoughts, Lucas continued to walk over to her. He was going to tell her how he felt. He no longer cared about what other people thought. If Nathan and Haley could do it, so could he and Brooke. He loved her, and he knew that now.

"Hey, Brooke." he said.

She shut her locker, and turned to face him. She didn't say anything, and just stared at him. Lucas looked deep in her eyes, and saw pain and sorrow.

"I, uh, got our grade from our Chem Project." Lucas said, hoping this would grab her curiosity.

Still, Brooke said nothing.

"Uh, well we got an A. I guess we even got the highest grade in the entire class." He smiled.

"Oh, that's great." she said her voice cold and flat. She turned and walked away leaving Lucas standing there dumbfounded. He realized that getting Brooke to trust him was definitely going to be a lot harder than he thought.

- - - - -

Nathan stood outside the tutor center, watching the clock, waiting for it to strike 3:00. He had arranged to meet Haley every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 3:00 for his "tutoring." Whitey had actually agreed to allow him to miss the first thirty minutes of practice as long as he made it up after practice after everyone else left, and worked harder during the official practice. Whitey knew that Nathan's grades weren't excellent, and he couldn't risk losing a player, especially his star player, to ineligibility. He was grateful Nathan had looked for help.

Nathan noticed it was three, and stepped through the tutor center doors.

"Hey." Hey said softly. Haley turned to face him, a smile illuminating her face.

"Nathan, hi!" Her smile grew. Nathan's heart flipped over seeing her smile at him. He walked over and sat next to her, and then leaned over to give her a kiss.

"Are you ready to study?" She smiled at him.

"I never thought I'd actually want to study."

For the next thirty minutes they studied, talked, laughed, kiss (a reward for Nathan getting a question right.) Neither of them realized how fast the time had passed, or even that it was time for Nathan to leave.

"Ok, so x equals 6, y equals 5, and k equals, k equals." he paused looking at the problem. "k equals 12."

"Good job!" Haley gave him a kiss. They parted, their foreheads still touching, both of them smiling at each other.

"Hey, Nate! Whitey sent me to get you!" Tim busted through the doors. Haley and Nathan separated quickly, but not quickly enough as Tim had noticed how close they had been.

"Man, what's going on? Are you guys like, dating or something?" Tim asked.

"What?" Nathan laughed nervously. "Haley's my tutor, Tim. That's all. She's nothing to me."

He looked over at Haley, who was looking away from them both. He saw a tear slide down her cheek.

"Well, thank you. I gotta got to practice. I'll see you on Wednesday." He got up and left. After he had left, Haley broke into harder sobs.

- - - - -

Brooke was happy that her father was passed out on the couch. She didn't want to have to face him today. She walked to the fridge grabbing the gallon of milk. She smelled it, and realized it had gone sour. She would have to go shopping soon. She set the milk aside, and saw the note from her mother.

_Brooke,_

_I can't stay here anymore Brookie. I'm finally living the life I want to live. I've met a man named Roger, and I've fallen in love with him. I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you, but me and Roger are getting married, and we're going to start a family. Watch over your father, Brooke. He's your family now. I'll always love you._

_-Mom_

Brooke felt tears in her eyes.

"Thanks, Mom. I'm glad you want me to be apart of your _new_ family." She whispered quietly.

She walked over to the sink, pouring the milk down the drain. She noticed there was a message on the answering machine. She reached over and pushed play.

"_James, this is Rick. I need the keys back to your truck. I told you I'd give you three days, it's been almost a week. I've filled your position and I need the keys. I'm sorry things had to be this way, James, but I couldn't rely on you anymore You need to straighten your act up."_

'Great.' Brooke thought. 'My mother abandoned me and left me with an unemployed drunk of a father.'

"Thanks, Mom." She looked into the den where her father was passed out on the couch. She saw him mumble something in his sleep, and turn to the side.

Life just wasn't getting any better.

- - - - -

Brooke walked over to Haley's, knowing that she needed her best friend more than ever now. Haley could always help her when times got rough.

She approached the front door, and knocked slightly.

Haley's mother opened the door. "Oh, thank God! Haley's been up in her room sobbing since she got home. I'm so glad you're here."

Brooke immediately ran up the stairs to Haley's room. She saw her friend lying in a huddle mess on her bed. She walked over to her, and rubbed her back.

"Haley?"

"Br-Br-Brooke?"" Haley sobbed and rolled over to look at her friend.

"Yep. Haley what's wrong?"

"He-he-he's ashamed of me." She cried even harder at this. Haley didn't need to say more, she knew who 'he ' was.

"I'm sorry, Haley. They're all jerks." Haley continued to sob, and Brooke pulled her into her arms and let her cry for almost an hour. She noticed that Haley had fallen asleep. She gently let of Haley, and pulled the covers up around her. Saying goodbye to her parents, Brooke left.

- - - - -

Nathan heard a knock at his front door, and paused his play station and walked over to answer it. He was surprised at what he saw.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Brooke said angrily.

""Excuse me?" 

"Don't play stupid. I know you're the reason I just sat with a sobbing Haley for over an hour. What the hell did you do?" She glared at him.

"We were at the tutor center, we were kissing, and Tim walked in on us. I panicked, Brooke. I wasn't ready for them to know." Nathan said guiltily.

"No, this is my fault. I should have warned her more about how big of an ass you are." She spat out. "I want you to leave her alone. Better yet, tell your entire group to leave us the hell alone."

Brooke stormed off, leaving a very sad and guilty Nathan. As she got farther and farther from his house, the tears began to fell.

What had her and Haley done to be hurt so badly? 

- - - - -

Brooke walked through her front door, and stepped into the den. She looked at the couch and noticed her father was gone. She thought that maybe he had left to bring the keys back to his former boss.

She stepped into the kitchen to be proven wrong. Her father was hunched over a note - her mother's note - on the table. He stood up when heard her step in and turned to face her. His faced was etched with rage.

"You whore! She left because of you!" He slapped across the face. Brooke stepped back, feeling her cheek burn from where he had hit her.

"She didn't want you! She never did, you little bitch. And now she's gone and it's your fault." He hit her again, this time much harder. Brooke started to cry.

"Dad, I'm sor-"

"Don't you apologize you little whore. You wanted her to leave. You wanted to ruin all our lives. You were just a stupid mistake." He punched square in the eye. Brooke fell to the ground.

He walked to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of Corona, and walked into the living room turning on the TV leaving Brooke laying unconscious on the kitchen floor. 


	9. Again I Go Unnoticed

**Another Kind of Green**

_Again I Go Unnoticed_

A half hour later, Brooke woke up with a splitting headache, and realizing she was laying on the cold tiles of the kitchen floor.

'Not again.' She thought. She reached her head to her temple and could fell the swelling. She then remembered the confrontation with her father, and realized how she ended up on the floor. This wasn't, of course, the first time this had happened.

She pushed herself off of the ground, and stood up. She looked into the living room, and saw her father passed out on the couch. She ran into her room, grabbed her purse and book bag, and bolted out the back door while she still had a chance. She would just stay at Haley's until he had cooled down, and then maybe everything would be okay. At least she kept telling herself it would be.

She walked down the street noticing how beautiful the sunset was. The seasons were changing, and it was becoming spring, so the sun was starting to set later in the evening, and today she was thankful for that. It had been the only beautiful thing she had seen all day. Not Lucas at her locker, not Haley sobbing into her pillows, not her mother's letter, or the sight of herself yelling at Nathan. And definitely not the bruise that was forming on her left temple.

She saw a familiar figure standing outside of Haley's house.

"Don't you think throwing rocks is a little old, Nathan?" She said walking past him.

"Brooke, you have to tell her I'm sorry. I've called her a hundred times. She won't answer."

"And why would she Nathan?" Brooke said walking up the stairs, placing her hand on the door knob.

"Brooke, please. I need your help. I love her."

Brooke turned around, the porch lights capturing her face.

"You want some help?"

"Yes I-" He started but noticed a massive bruise on the side of her face. His voice lowered. "Brooke, what happened to you?"

"I'm fine! It's none of your business." She snapped. "You want some advice? Here you go - If you love her so much, prove it to her. Calling her won't do it either. Actions speak louder than words."

With that she stepped inside and slammed the door, leaving Nathan alone with his thoughts.

'Actions speak louder than words.'

- - - - -

Haley looked up as Brooke walked into her room. She noticed the bruising and swelling on the side of her face, but didn't say anything. She didn't need to.

"Do you want me to get the ice?" She asked.

Brooke looked up with tears in her eyes, and slowly nodded.

Haley returned with an ice pack, and placed it on Brooke's temple. Both girls fell back onto Haley's bed. 

"Brooke, please. I have to say something to my parents. They're going to start questioning if you keep showing up like this with bruises all over your body."

"He's all I got Haley. My mom left today. Please, just give him time. Maybe he'll change."

Haley promised her friend she would wait, but inside she was scared for her friend. What if something worse happened to Brooke? It would be her fault.

Slowly, they each drifted off to sleep with heavy hearts, neither wanting to wake up and face the next day.

- - - - -

The next morning Haley helped Brooke style her hair to cover as much of the bruise as she could, and watched as Brooke applied about seven layers of make up to completely cover it.

Together, they walked to school. Most of the walk was silent. Neither wanted to speak of what had happened the day before. Not about Brooke's father, or what had happened with either Scott brother.

They parted to go to their lockers and their first period classes. Brooke kept her face down as much as she could, in fear of anyone catching a glimpse of her bruise.

They met up again for English and walked down and sat in their usual spots.

"Haley?" She heard a voice beside her. She turned to see Nathan in the desk right beside her.

"Don't talk to me."

"Look, I'm sorry, Haley. I really am."

"Well, sorry is not going to cut it. Now leave me alone, I have class to pay attention to."

- - - - -

That was how the rest of the day went. Nathan trying to speak to Haley, and Haley shutting Nathan down. He had tried four more times. Once more in English, two times at lunch, and once in the hall ways.

Lucas, on the other hand, had pretty much avoided Brooke. She had made it clear yesterday that she wanted nothing to with him. He did notice, however, something different about her today. Her head wasn't held high as it usually was, and she rarely looked up from the floor. Once, when their met eyes in the cafeteria, he swore he thought her one eye looked swollen. She had looked down immediately, so he couldn't be for sure.

He now sat in his sixth period class, listening to Nathan ramble on about Haley. He looked up when he heard Brooke's name.

"Wait, what were you saying about Brooke?"

"She was at Haley's last night when I went there to apologize. She told me I needed to prove it to Haley that t I love her."

"Oh. Well she's right." Lucas said turning back to his paper.

"Yeah, I know. There was something wrong with her face though."

Lucas looked up again. "What?"

"I don't know it looked bruised or something."

Lucas connected the dots, and realized something had happened to Brooke. For some reason, his heart was telling him it was something to be worried about.

The bell dismissing them from sixth period rang, and they both gathered their things and headed to their next class – Chemistry.

- - - - -

Luckily, for Haley and Brooke today was not a lab day. They sat for the entire period copying notes of the board and listening to the teacher lecture about ions.

Nathan couldn't focus. He stared at Haley for most of the class, racking his brain for something that might work. He couldn't lose her, not now.

He leaned over to her, and tried to talk to her. It was pointless at this point to begin listening to the lecture anyways.

She shrugged him off, and continued to copy the notes.

Nathan, once again feeling rejected, looked over to Lucas. Lucas was also scribbling on a piece of paper, but Nathan realized it wasn't the notes he was writing. He watched as Lucas folded the paper and laid it on Brooke's desk.

Brooke opened the piece of paper in front of her.

_Are you okay?_

-Lucas

Brooke quickly wrote on the paper and handed it back to him before returning to the notes.

Lucas reopened the note and read what she had written.

_Yes. Just peachy. _

Brooke saw the paper plop back on her desk.

_Are you sure? Your face looks swollen and Nathan said it looked bruised last night. I just want to make sure you're okay._

Brooke crumbled up the paper, and turned to look at Lucas.

"Look, I'm fine. Okay? Drop it." She hissed at him, trying to be quiet.

Lucas looked into her eyes as she said it. He could see fear, sadness, and most of all- hurt. She was definitely not "fine."

- - - - -

Class had ended, and Nathan was panicking. He needed to do something. He made his way through the swarm of people and met Haley at her locker.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone." She said with a cold voice.

"Haley, I'm not going to stop. I want you to know how sorry I am. Haley I lo-"

He stopped when Brooke appeared. "You ready Haley?" She asked.

Haley nodded, and together they walked towards the door.

Nathan stood there defeated. He knew that this was it. He watched as Haley walked away through the crowd, further and further away from him. He had blown it. He had ruined the only chance with someone he truly loved. And he did love her, his heart aching for her as she walked away. He saw her near the door at the other end of the school.

Suddenly, he called out. "HALEY!"

He saw her pause at the end of the hallway, but continued.

"HALEY JAMES! I LOVE YOU!"

This time she completely stopped, and turned to face him, a look of shock spread across her face.

"THAT'S RIGHT! I, NATHAN SCOTT LOVE YOU HALEY JAMES AND I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW IT!"

He stopped yelling and looked at her. He was out of breathe, but he smiled when he saw a smile on her face. He took off into a jog, and slowed as he approached her. Walking up to her, he put his arms around her waist and spun her around, kissing her as he put her down. They stood there smiling at each other for the longest time, neither caring who was watching them.

- - - - -

Brooke had walked away, wanting to leave Haley alone with Nathan. Sure, she was happy for her best friend, but she had never felt more alone in her entire life than she did at that moment.


	10. The Tension And The Terror

_okay. so i'm awful, and i haven't updated in forever. i've been super busy with school and work and getting my apartment all situated, but now i'm good to go. so expect lots more updates soon. review and tell me what you think- good, bad, ideas. whatever :)_

**Another Kind of Green**

_The Tension and The Terror_

Lucas had heard Nathan in the hallway. Hell, everyone had heard Nathan in the hallway. But it gave Lucas some motivation. If Nate could make all that he had done right again, so could Lucas. And Lucas was really tired of "playing this game."

He also knew that something bad had happened to Brooke, and that scared him. First, there was the bruise on her wrist, and her story for that didn't seem too convincing. Now she's showing up with larger bruises around her eye. What if this pattern progressed and something worse happened? He couldn't lose Brooke before he even had a chance to "have" her. But who could be doing this to her?

He made his way through the school parking lot and got into his truck. He drove quickly home, and found the phone book.

"How was school today Lucas?" His mother said entering the kitchen.

"Ah, same old, same old I guess." He replied flipping through the pages.

"Can I help you with something?" She gave him a questioning look.

"Do you know the Davis'?" He asked her, still searching through the book.

"Brooke's parents?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I went to high school with her father."

"Do you know where they live?"

"Well, they used to live in a gorgeous house on Water Street, but then they moved. I think maybe to Parsons."

Lucas found a Davis listing on Parsons Road and smiled.

"Thanks Mom. I'll be back in a little bit."

-

Brooke sat on the couch flipping through a fashion magazine when she heard something moving down the hallway.

'Great. He's up.' She thought to herself. She watched as he stumbled down the hallway and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. He then plopped himself down on the recliner beside her and flipped on the TV.

Brooke sat there, unable to read because of the sound, and disgusted by the smell coming off of her father. She stood up and made her way back to her own bedroom where she could read in peace.

Several moments later, she heard a knock at the door. She could tell her father was already on his way to the door, so she stayed put on her bed.

"BROOOOOOOOOOOOKE!" She heard her father yell down the hall way. "GET YOUR SLUTTY ASS OUT HERE!"

Scared, she made her way out into the kitchen and then into the den. She saw a very scared Lucas standing at the door.

"Lucas, what are you doing here?" She said panicky.

"I-uh, came-" But he was cut off by Brooke's father.

"You care to explain this you little whore? Your mother runs off and instead of helping me your becoming the town slut?"

Lucas couldn't believe what he was hearing. Obviously this man was drunk, but even in that status how could he allow himself to say those words to his own daughter. And he thought Dan was bad.

"No, Dad. Look, Lucas is a friend. That's all."

"Sure, that's all. Just like your mother's 'friend' right?" He quoted "friend" with his fingers.

"Dad, it's not like that." She pleaded with him. She was embarrassed that Lucas was here, seeing this situation. Haley knew of what happened to Brooke, but she never saw it.

"Lucas, I think you should leave." She looked past her father.

Lucas could see her eyes were pleading with him, but he saw the fear that accompanied them and there was no way he was going to leave. Not after seeing the bruises, and that look in her eyes.

But before either could say anything, Brooke's father brought up his arm and hit Brooke square in the face. She stumbled to the ground, bringing her hands to where she had just been hitting. That was enough for Lucas. He ran over, took Rick by the shoulder, turned him around and punched him square in the nose. Rick fell to the ground, creating a loud sound as he hit the ground. Lucas went over to Brooke, picking her bridal style and carried her out of the house.

He continued to carry her as he walked to his truck, and he placed her in the passenger seat. She was out of it, and he didn't know whether he should take her to the hospital or just get here away from this place.

Ten minutes later, he pulled into his own drive. He got Brooke out of the truck and carried her inside. His mother, after hearing the door slam, made her way into the foyer.

"Lucas! Is she okay?" She said putting her hand to her mouth.

"I don't know." Lucas' voice cracked. He was trying as hard as he could to not break down when he saw Brooke lying unconscious in his arms.

"Go lay her down in the guest bedroom, I'll call the doctor."

Lucas did as his mother was told and laid Brooke gently down on the bed. He pulled up a chair, and sat there with her hand in his. His mother stood quietly in the doorway, waiting for the doctor to arrive.

Several minutes later, the doctor arrived and went into the room with Brooke while Lucas and Karen waited outside.

"Lucas, how did this happen?" Karen asked worriedly.

"Her... father. He hit her." Lucas was still in a state of shock.

"Oh, Lucas that's awful."

"I'm not letting her go back there." His voice was firm.

"I wouldn't think even think of it." She said.

"I'll be right back, Mom." Lucas made his way out into the kitchen, the phone book still on the counter. He flipped through it and tried calling Haley's number. The call went straight to the answering machine several times, so he gave up. He next called Nathan's cell phone.

"Hey Lucas, what's up?" Nathan said sounding cheery.

"Nate, are you with Haley?"

"Yeah." He was less enthused this time when he heard the fear in Lucas' voice. "Lucas, what is it?"

"Just get to my house. Now." He said quickly and then hung up the phone. He made his way back into the living room where his mom was sitting on the couch, hear head in her hands.

"We need to tell the police Lucas."

"I know. I just don't think she'll be happy about it."

"Of course she won't, but it's the best for her. She'll understand that." Karen made her way into the kitchen, and Lucas could hear her on the phone.

Haley and Nathan arrived shortly after, and Lucas explained what happened to them. As soon as she heard the news, Haley broke down.

"I should have said something a long time ago." She said in between sobs. Nathan put his arms around, trying to stabilize her. "She wouldn't let me say anything."

Lucas watched as the newly formed couple found comfort in each other. In all of this mess, he was glad they had each other.

The police arrived after that, and Lucas immediately went into questioning. The questioning didn't last as long as he had expected, since Brooke was unconscious, and Lucas was a first-hand witness. They immediately went to Brooke's house to take her father in.

After most of the commotion had settled down, the four sat down.

"Haley?" Karen asked, her voice small and weak. "Where is Brooke's mother?"

"I have no idea. She left them about a week or so ago."

Karen put her head back into her hands. This mess was growing larger by the minute.

"Well, do you think Brooke could stay with you?" Lucas made his way into the conversation. "She is not going back there."

"Brooke's always been apart of my family. I mean, she spends the night a lot, but I don't know if she'd be able to actually live with us. Four of my brothers and sisters still live at home. My parents struggle enough trying to support them."

"She'll stay here." Karen said straightly. "It's only me and Lucas here. It's about time we actually put that guest bedroom into use."

Lucas looked at his mother, thankful. She was the strongest person he ever knew, and she had the biggest heart in the world.

They were broken out of the conversation by the reappearance of the doctor.

"I think Brooke is going to be fine. She took a powerful hit to the head. I want to run a few tests on her. Has this happened before?"

There was silence for a moment until Haley spoke up. "Yes." She said quietly.

"Well, I'll call for a squad. I just want to make sure there isn't more damage to her head than what's apparent." He said pulling out his phone. He walked into another room.

"This is all my fault." Haley said, starting to cry again.

"Haley." Karen said strongly. "This is not your fault."

"I didn't say anything. I should have said something!" She was sobbing harder. Karen made her way to the couch and knelt in front of Haley, taking her hands in her own.

"You have been there for Brooke longer than anyone else. You were only doing what she asked. Think of how much you have helped her through this. You have always been the person she could count on. You should feel good about that, and have faith that Brooke's going to be okay."

"She will be." Haley said, sniffling. "She's the strongest person I know."

Nathan put his arm back around her, giving her a squeeze to comfort and leaned to kiss the side of her head. The squad arrived five minutes later, and they all watched as the paramedics secured Brooke to the stretcher and packed her away into the emergency vehicle.

Lucas had already made his way to his mother's car, and everyone else followed. After the squad pulled out, he followed it the entire way to the hospital.

-

An hour later, Lucas, Karen, Haley, and Nathan sat waiting patiently outside of Brooke's hospital room. The doctors had been running every test possible, and promised to dismiss her as soon as they were done. What worried Lucas was that Brooke had still not woken up yet.

A doctor in a white lab coat that none of them knew approached them.

"Brooke is going to be okay. We didn't find any evidence of damage to her brain or any of her other organs for that matter. Besides a few bumps and bruises, she appears to be very healthy. She's waking now. You can all go in and see her while we prepare to send her home."

Lucas let out a sigh of relief. She was going to be okay, and from now on out he would never let anything happen to her ever again.


	11. Home

_okay i know i know. i suck. but now that's summers over and everything is slowing down, i'll be updating a heck of a lot more. _

* * *

**Another Kind of Green**

_Home_

As Brooke's eyes fluttered open, the view in front of her was hard to take in. An immense amount of white surrounded her, and she realized she was laying in what appeared to be a hospital room. She looked to her right and saw Haley, Nathan, Lucas, and Karen standing by the door.

"Wha-Why-Whe-Wha?"" She stuttered out.

The four standing by the door knew that this must have been confusing for her. Last she could remember, she was at home.

"Brooke," Karen started. "You were hit pretty badly to the head. Your father has been taken into custody."

"NO!" Brooke screamed and then broke into sobs.

"Brooke, he hit you pretty badly." Haley said quietly.

"Haley, he's all I got! You know that! He was all I had left."

"Brooke." Karen started again, trying to calm the girl down. "No one should live in that environment. Your father needs to straighten his life up again. Like how he used to be."

"You-you knew my father?" Brooke asked, the sobs finally beginning to cease.

"Proud member of the Tree Hill class of 1985." Karen said slightly sarcastically causing everyone to laugh. "He was a great person Brooke. He just needs to find that person again."

"But where will I stay? I can't live there alone. I don't even have a job. I'm not even eighteen yet." Brooke said starting to panic.

"You're going to stay with Lucas and I. We have a guest bedroom that you are welcome to stay in for as long as you want."

"Oh no, I couldn't impose on you like that."

"You're not, Brooke. We 'd both be happy to have you stay with us." Karen said looking up at Lucas who nodded in agreement.

"But what about my stuff."

"Me and Haley ar-" Nathan started.

"Haley and I." Haley interrupted.

"Right, Haley and I are going to go and pick up a few things for you from your house, and you can pick up the rest when you're feeling better."

"Okay. Seems like you guys took care of everything. When do I get to leave this place?" Brooke looked around, feeling imprisoned by the bland room.

"The doctor is signing the papers to release you right now. He says you're to just take it easy for a while. I'm going to call Deb and see if she'll cover a few shifts for me so I can stay home with you. I don't want you straining yourself for anything." Karen said in a very motherly tone. Brooke smiled for the first time since she woke up. It was nice to feel like she actually had a mother around.

"Thank you Karen. Thank you everyone for everything you've done. I'm just sorry you all had to be a part of this."

"We're not Brooke." Lucas said for the first time since she woke up. "We're all glad that we can be here for you and that you're not alone in this. The only thing we're sorry about is what happened to you."

Brooke looked up into his eyes. They were sad, but relieved. They were etched with worry and fear, but she saw how genuine Lucas Scott really was in those eyes. She saw that he truly did care.

She shifted her gaze to the doctor who was now entering the room.

"Hello Brooke. I'm doctor Masterson. Everything looks fine and completely healthy. You're free to go home."

* * *

Karen led Brooke showed Brooke around the rest of the house and led her to the guest bedroom where she would be staying. 

"Karen, I cannot thank you enough for all you've done for me already. I promise you I'll stay out of the way and won't be a burden to either of you."

"Brooke, honey, as long as you're under this roof you're apart of my family. Please, make yourself as comfortable here as you were at home." She saw Brooke's expression fall.

"I haven't been comfortable there for quite along time."

"I'm sorry Brooke." Karen said before taking her in for a hug. "I promise everything is going to get better."

Just then Lucas led Haley and Nathan into the room, all three carrying bags of Brooke's stuff.

"We'll let you get settled in Brooke. Just don't work too hard. If you need any of us, just holler."

"Thank, but I think I can handle it."

The four left the room and Brooke went over to the bags. She took the ones that were filled with clothes and began placing them into the dresser in the far end of the room. The other bags had small knick knacks or pictures that Brooke loved. The last bag contained Brooke's pillow, her favorite stuffed animal (a fluffy teddy bear given to her by her grandpa just before he died) and her box of letters.

'How did Haley know about these?' She thought before quickly opening the top of the shoe box. They looked completely untouched and just as she had last seen them. She let out a sigh of relief. She placed the pillow and the bear on her bed and the shoe box underneath of it. She then laid down on the bed and just closed her eyes. It was by far the most comfortable bed she had slept in in a really long time. Before she knew it, Brooke was fast asleep.

* * *

Downstairs, Haley, Nathan, Karen, and Lucas sat discussing the situation in the living room. 

"Is she going to have to speak against him in court?" Haley asked, cuddling in closer into Nathan's side on the couch. "I just don't know if she'll be able to do that."

"Well, I'm not sure. The sheriff said that he would have a silent hearing first, and he would notify us after that with any information Brooke may need to know. If it turns out that she does have to appear in court, we'll just have to stand behind her and give her the strength she needs." Karen said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Well, are you sure that she can stay here? I'm sure we could make room for her." Haley replied to Karen. Neither Lucas or Nathan had spoken much since they arrived back at Lucas and Karen's home.

"It's perfectly fine. We have plenty of room for her here, so it's not necessary for you to try and make room. Besides, I need a girl around here to gang up on Lucas." She said with a smile, winking at Haley, causing her to laugh.

"She's been up there a long time." Lucas finally said, standing against the doorway.

"Do you think I should go check on her?" Haley asked, moving out from under Nathan's arm.

"No, it's okay. I'll go." He said and made his way up the stairs. He slightly knocked on Brooke's door, and after hearing no reply, he opened the door.

He peeked in, trying not to intrude or interrupt. "Brooke?" He whispered. He looked around the room and found Brooke fast asleep on her bed. He quietly stepped over to her, slid off her shoes, and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. Quickly and quietly, he placed a kiss on Brooke's cheek, and stepped out of the room.

* * *

Hours later, when Brooke woke up, she realized that it early morning. She could see the sun coming up through her windows, causing an array of oranges, pinks, and blues throughout the sky. Had she really slept that long? The last thing she remember was putting her stuff away yesterday evening, but that was around seven or eight. She rolled over in her bed and realized that she was tucked into bed. She didn't even remember getting ready for bed. She threw the covers off of herself, and stepped onto the hard wood floor. Standing up she stretched out her arms and back. A sudden pain came to her head, and memories of yesterday flooded back to her. 

Trying to hard to shake away the tears, Brooke made her way out into the hallway, and down the stairs where she could hear faint noises. She followed the noses to the kitchen where she saw Karen moving about the kitchen with pots and pans.

"Good morning, Karen." She said softly, not wanting to scare her.

Karen turned around, and smiled. "Good morning, Brooke. How are you feeling?"

"Good thanks. I don't think I've slept that long for a very long time." She laughed.

"Well, I"m glad you were comfortable. Can I get you something to eat?"

"Sure that would be great." Brooke smiled genuinely. She took a deeper look at the kitchen as Karen cooked. She glanced at the microwave and noticed it was almost nine thirty.

"Oh crap!" Brooke blurt out causing Karen to turn around.

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm late, like really late, for school." She said getting off the stool and frantically began to gather some of her things.

"Brooke!" Karen called before Brooke got too far away. Brooke ran in, her face worried.

"Yeah?"

"I called you and Lucas in today. I figured you could both use a day off." She said.

"Oh, thank god." Brooke said sinking back into the chair. After a moment of silence, both her and Karen burst in laughter.

"I looked like a serious chicken with it's head cut off, didn't I?" Brooke said laughing.

"Just a little bit."

"Karen, where's Lucas?"

"He's still asleep. Nathan and Haley were here pretty late last night."

"Oh, really? They didn't have to get up today for school did they?"

"I'm not really sure. They were talking about not going, but you know how Dan can be. Nathan missing practice may be the end of the world." She laughed. "And I think Haley was going if Nathan was going."

"Oh, I see."

"Will you wake up Lucas? Breakfast is almost ready."

"Sure." Brooke said and got up and walked down the hallway to Lucas' room. She knocked on the door, hoping that would wake him up. After hearing no response, she opened the door and walked in. She smiled at how sweet Lucas looked asleep in his bed.

She walked over and shook him by the shoulders until his eyes fluttered open.

"Good morning Lucas." She said in a sing-song voice.

"Brooke?" he said groggily.

"Yep, that's right. Your new roomie!" She exclaimed.

"Is this a dream?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Nope. But it's time for breakfast so get up sleepyhead!" She said patting his bed and skipped out of the room. Lucas watched her and laughed. So much had changed in less than twenty four hours.

He got up and changed and made his way out to the kitchen.

"Morning Mom."

"Good morning Lucas. How did you sleep?"

"Not enough." He muffled out.

"Aw poor baby." Brooke whined and then laughed.

Brooke wasn't quite sure what made her spirits rise so much in the last ten minutes, but it was the first time in a long time she felt a part of a family. She actually felt like she was home.

As Karen finished breakfast, the three sat and ate, engaged in slight conversation for the rest of the morning.

* * *

That afternoon, Brooke grabbed her purse, and went for a walk. She made her way to the grocery, and with most of the money she had left, she bought four pints of ice cream, one bag of marshmallows, a box of oreos, and the latest Cosmo. It was Thursday and there was no way she would let anything stop her and Haley's movie night routine be ruined. 

She walked home and put everything away. Karen had to go because there was some sort of emergency at the cafe and Lucas was in his room reading.

She went to the living room, and sat down on the couch. She looked at the time. Four thirty. So Haley was running a little late – Brooke knew she would be here any minute.

* * *

An hour later, Brooke sat in the same position on the couch, staring blankly at the screen. 

"You know you can turn it on right? It's more entertaining that way." She heard a deep voice behind her. She turned and saw Lucas standing in the hallway and half smiled.

"She didn't come."

"Who?"

"Haley. It's move night. We've done this every Thursday since we were freshmen. And she didn't come."

"Maybe she's running late." He said, trying to enlighten the situation.

"I thought that at four thirty."

Lucas glanced at the clock. It was almost six. He looked back at Brooke, and saw how sad she really was over this.

"Well, can I watch with you?"

"Lucas, It's a Nicholas Sparks movie."

"I don't care. I'd be honored to be a part of movie night."

"Really?" Brooke asked. Lucas laughed at how she was reacting like a little kid at Christmas.

"Really."

"Okay, I'll get the movie. There's ice cream and junk food and the kitchen. Will you bring it out here?"

"Sure thing." He said making his way into the kitchen.

When he made his way back out, he saw that Brooke had chosen 'The Notebook' and was already cuddled in her blanket on the couch. She looked up at him and patted the couch.

"Come on roomie! It's time to start the movie." She said giving him that million dollar smile that made his heart melt. He placed the food on the coffee table and sat down next to her on the couch.

"Why'd you bring peanut butter?" She asked eying the jar on the table.

"Because you bought oreos."

"So."

"Here, try this." He said taking the jar and dipping an oreo into it. He handed the gooey cookie to her, which she took carefully.

"I'm supposed to eat this."

"Yep."

"Okay." She took a bite of the cookie and her eyes lit up.

"Oooooh Lucas Scott! You're better at movie night than I expected." She giggled finishing off the cookie. She leaned back in her seat and pulled the blanket up around her shoulders and started the movie.

* * *

Lucas had barely watched any of the movie. He spent most of the evening watching Brooke. He loved her expressions as she watch Noah and Allie through the good times and bad. When they fought she would wrap the blanket tight around her, and when it was sad her eyes would glisten. But his favorite was when she laughed or smiled, like she was at that moment. 

He looked at the screen began to watch the film again. A few minutes later he felt a thump against his shoulder. He looked down and saw that Brooke had fallen asleep. He gently placed his arm around her, and pulled her closer to him.

He could definitely get used to movie night.

* * *

_there you are! review!!!!_


	12. It's Not Your Fault

_Here you go guys. I'm hoping everything is settled. It's been a crazy couple of months and I'mg glad it's over and I'm here writing again. So please review this!! Tell me what you like/ don't like/ or want to see._

**

* * *

****Another Kind of Green**

_It's Not Your fault_

As soon as the movie finished, Lucas carefully lifted Brooke and carried her up the stairs to the room she now occupied. He found it amazing just a few weeks ago he was scared about having a friendship with Brooke, and now here she was living in his own home.

But he wouldn't change that fact for the world of course.

He carefully laid her on the bed, and just like the night before, he tucked her into bed and left as quietly as possible.

* * *

Brooke was awakened by a slight knocking on her bedroom door.

"Hello?" She called out quietly. She quickly glanced at her clock on her bed stand and saw that it was almost two in the morning.

"Brooke, it's me." She heard Lucas whisper, opening the door slightly. "There's someone here to see you."Suddenly, Haley appeared in the room, standing closely behind Lucas.

"Well, I'm going back to bed. I told you she was just a little late." Lucas winked at Brooke, and left closing the door behind him.

"Brooke, I couldn't sleep. I just had to tell you I'm so sorry."

"For what?" Brooke asked confused.

"I missed movie night Brooke. I'm so so sorry. Nathan had to go to school, Dan wouldn't allow for him to miss practice. So I went too, and afterwards we went over to his house to get something to eat but we ended up falling asleep on the couch. Oh Brooke, will you forgive me?"

"Haley, you're acting like you did something completely horrible. I understand. Come here." She said opening her arms to give her best friend a hug.

"Besides, you weren't the only one who fell asleep with a Scott boy." Brooke giggled, causing Haley to pull back and give her a suspicious look. "Oh come on Haley. Totally innocent! I just suckered him into watching girly movies with me." She smiled.

Haley smiled at her friend. She loved that Brooke was in good spirits. She knew that she had only been in this house for a couple days, but already there was a difference. Then again, if Haley slept only a few doors down from Nathan, she'd probably be ecstatic as well. But most importantly, Brooke was finally safe.

After several moments, Haley stood up. "Hey Brooke, I got to get going. Nathan's waiting outside for me, and I still have to go home and explain to the parentals." She said with a wince.

"Well, be gone with you!" Brooke smiled giving her friend a slight push towards the door following her downstairs to lock the door behind her friend and giving a small wave to Nathan through the window. Brooke crept back up the stairs quietly and crawled back into bed. Within several minutes, she was fast asleep.

* * *

The next day Brooke woke up in good spirits but became terrified of the day ahead of her. As soon as Lucas got home from school, they were going to her house to pile up most of her stuff into a truck Lucas was borrowing from his Uncle Keith and bringing it over to Lucas and Karen's to finally get Brooke settled in completely.

She wandered around the house for most of the morning feeling completely anxious and jittery. Her actions were not missed by Karen, who tried her best to comfort the girl.

"Brooke?" Karen asked as they sat down for lunch.

"Hmm?" Brooke answered after taking a sip of her tea.

"Would you like to go to the store with me today? I was thinking we could go to the hardware store to buy some paint for the walls in your bedroom. Maybe pick up some small things to make it feel more like home in there."

"Oh Karen, that sounds wonderful but it's completely unnecessary. I already feel comfortable in your house."

"Well, I was just thinking it would be nice for you to feel like a part of it belongs to you too." Karen smiled at the young girl.

"Karen, I feel so much like a burden to you already. I couldn't possible change anything about your house or anything in it."

"Oh, that room's a little stuffy as it is anyways. We'll be doing it a favor."

"Well, okay. It sounds like fun." Brooke said, still unsure about everything. She hated feeling like she was taking advantage of Lucas and Karen; although she knew that they didn't feel that way at all.

"Perfect, we'll leave after I get all this cleaned up."

* * *

Brooke couldn't have ever realized shopping for paint could be so much fun. She and Karen laughed and laughed the entire time they picked out paint. They next picked out a bedspread to match the deep red color Brooke had picked out, and they made a big deal of taking out every single blanket to see its "true color and texture" as Karen explained it. They got lattés in the mall, and drank them in the park while they discussed all of the people surrounding them. Sitting on the bench, staring out at the river flowing in front of them, Brooke realized she had finally found the family she had been looking for for so long. The only thing was that she was terrified it would be taken away as quickly as her previous family had been.

Brooke had been about five years old when her father lost his business. From then on the man she knew as a loving father had disappeared and the strong woman she called her mother was gone too. The rest is history.

"Karen. I'm scared."

"I know Brooke. But I can see a strong woman inside of you and I know she's going to pull through all of this."

"I'm not just scared of the whole thing with my dad and going back to the house today. But I'm scared of you and Lucas too."

Karen turned to look at the girl, the astonishment clear on her face causing Brooke to laugh a little bit.

"I know that probably sounds bad. But it's kind of like this. My parents used to be great people. I remember them. But somewhere along the way they changed and I got left behind. I've always been praying for that family again. So here I am, and I do realize I've only known you and Lucas for some time but you guys actually feel like my family. And I know that I can't wait to meet Keith, because I know he's going to be just as amazing as you and Lucas. But a part of that terrifies me because I'm scared that I'm going to be left behind. Even the Haley-Nathan thing scares me. I'm so happy for her but one day she may be gone completely from my life. And I don't know if I can handle that."

Karen took a moment to look over at the young woman sitting next to her pouring out all her fears and inhibitions and saw the daughter she had always wished she had had. The daughter she had always wanted to go shopping with and have deep heart to heart talks with.

"Brooke," She started." You have to know that you are an amazing young woman. I can see a change in my son, a change for the better, and I know that you're behind it. And I know why, because the more I get to know you that change is taking place on me. What happened with your parents is not your fault. I know that I hope that we can all stay together in this little family we have. You're just a part of a growing family we've got going on here. First it was just me and Keith and Lucas, but then Nathan came into the picture, and Deb's definitely in there somewhere." She laughed. "But now we have you and Haley, and trust me, we're not letting you two go anywhere."

"Thank you Karen, for everything. It really does mean a lot to me."

"It's my pleasure Brooke. But we'd better head back. Lucas should be home soon, and he'll think we were kidnapped or something. God knows stranger things have happened in Tree Hill."

Brooke laughed as she stood up and threw away her empty coffee cup. Karen had definitely lifter her spirits on everything.

* * *

By the time they made it back Lucas was already home, and had Keith's truck ready to go. He helped Brooke and Karen carry in all their miscellaneous shopping bags.

"Oh I am so glad you're around Brooke. I no longer have to go through the misery of shopping." Lucas said laughing.

"Oh, don't think you're getting out that easily Mister." His mother said from the kitchen. "Next time we go out you're helping me and Brooke pick out flowers for my garden."Even Brooke made a grimaced face at this which caused Lucas to chuckle.

"You 'bout ready Brooke?"

"Let's get this over with." She said following him out the door.

* * *

Walking into her old house felt like alien territory to Brooke. Already she had grown accustom to Lucas' house, and this place left her feeling dark and depressed. "Lucas, let's just get the stuff and get out."He nodded, and they quickly made their way to her room and began packing up Brooke's stuff into boxes. Lucas worked on her book collection, packing them into different crates while Brooke placed her clothes into a moving box. They worked quickly, neither wanting to be there long, and quietly. Lucas could see that Brooke was having a hard time with being in this place and knew she most likely wanted to be alone.

Almost two hours later Lucas was carrying out the last of the boxes they had packed up and Brooke was searching to make sure they had gotten everything. After she felt satisfied everything was in the truck Brooke picked up the last box (filled with her shoe collection) and began to walk out to the truck. She paused momentarily to look at the note still hanging on the fridge, and looked slightly above it to see a picture of her family at their old house when Brooke was a little girl. How happy they all looked. She glanced back down at the note and over to the machine with the message light blinking.

'Don't answer it Brooke.' She said to herself in her head. 'Just get out of here.'

But she just stood there unable to move. She balanced the box on one hip, and slightly reached over and pressed the button to play the message.

_"Brooke. You little slut. Don't think you're getting away with this. I'm coming after you and your whore of a mother as soon as I get out of here. You ruined it Brooke. You ruined everything good in my life. I'm sitting in jail with one phone call, so I wanted you to know that you are the biggest mistake in anyone's life. I will come find you Brookie. I-"_Everything began a blur to Brooke and her body froze, dropping the box of shoes, spilling them all over the kitchen floor. She couldn't move, and the tears began to fall faster and faster. She felt two arms wrap around her and carry her out to the car."I'm getting you out of here Brooke." She heard Lucas say. He sounded so far away. She tried to respond but her mouth wouldn't move. She could feel him lift her into the truck and sit her down, but it all felt so distant. She could feel his hands rubbing her arms, trying to give her comfort. "I'll be right back Brooke. I promise."Quickly, Lucas ran back into the house and gathered up the shoes and brought the box out to the truck. He got into the drivers side and looked over at the girl beside him. She looked so scared and so fragile. He could hear the message playing as he walked back into the house and his anger surged. But seeing Brooke like this only broke his heart.

"Are you okay Brooke?"

"Get me out of here Lucas, and don't ever let me come back." She said looking over at him. "Please take me away."

Lucas started up the car but continued to look at her. "Brooke, I promise you I will protect you and that you have nothing to fear. I promise."

"Thank you Lucas." And that was all she said. They drove back home in complete silence. They spent the rest of the night bringing the boxes inside and getting everything as settled in as possible.


	13. Heaven Only Knows

_yep yep. look at me updating twice in one day thank you. hope you guys enjoy this one. review!!_

**

* * *

Another Kind of Green**

_Heaven Only Knows_

That night, Lucas tossed and turned, willing sleep to come for what seemed like hours. He tried reading, watching a movie, listening to the radio, anything that would allow him to shed his thoughts and catch some sleep. But nothing seemed to work. His thoughts were all over the place – Brooke, Nathan, fate, God, you name it- and he couldn't seem to make a conclusion to any of it.

He thought about Nathan and Haley. How was Nathan able to be with Haley so freely and not get any crap for it? Then again, Lucas really hadn't been around them too much in public to actually notice anything. But he was in school today, and it didn't really seem like anyone gave a rat's ass about the couple. Of course there was Peyton, Tim, and the rest of the 'elitists' but when you stopped to look at the whole picture, they made up about five percent of the entire student body. It amazed Lucas that he hadn't really thought of that before. Who really cared if he sat at their table at lunch? There were seventy other tables to choose from, and he could even venture off campus if he wanted. And he knew Nathan had his back no matter what he chose.

Now that he thought about it, what was so great about being apart of that group? If any of them were really Lucas' friends, they'd stand by whatever it was that made him happy. Lucas couldn't figure it out. What was the big deal? Being in their crowd didn't affect their grades in the slightest. In fact, in Nathan's case, being with Haley actually improved his grades. And it surely didn't affect their spots on the basketball team. He didn't want to rub his ego or anything, but without him or Nathan, the Tree Hill Ravens wouldn't be what they were now. So why couldn't Lucas just be with Brooke?

Brooke.

How could he not be in love with her? She was one of those people you rarely found; One of those once in a lifetime kind of people. And Lucas had actually found her. He hated sounding cliché and all but that's really what it came down to. He loved that she could stand in a room with any opponent and hold her head high. He loved that she had faced so many horrible things in her life and yet here she was, one of the strongest people Lucas had ever met. She was smart as hell, and was one of those people that actually challenged and stimulated Lucas intellectually. He was excited about spending the days to come learning more and more about the many levels that made up Brooke Davis. And damn, was she beautiful. No one could say she wasn't. She was one of those people who could wear a brown paper sack and still light up any room she walked into. And for some reason she was here in his house, brought to him by God or someone else watching over him up there in the heavens. Could Lucas actually call that fate? Was he made Brooke's lab partner only to bring her closer to him, so he could save her from her home life? That part boggled his mind the most.

Eventually, he became tired and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Brooke woke up early the next morning and stretched her arms out and took a deep breath. If there was anything about this house she could definitely get used to, it would be the smell in the mornings when Karen was cooking.

She forced herself out of bed and grabbed her robe that hung on the back of her door and slipped it on. She made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen where Karen was cooking.

"Good morning Karen!" she said sitting in a chair at the island.

"Good morning Brooke. Would you care for some breakfast?"

"I'd love some." She said cheerfully. Today was a new day, and she wasn't going to let yesterday bring it down. She smiled as Karen placed a plate in front of her, along with a glass of milk, and sat down across from her.

"Hey Karen, where's Lucas this morning?"

"Oh he had an early team meeting this morning. Big game tonight or something."

"Oh. What time should he be back?" Karen opened her mouth to answer but saw Lucas make his way into the kitchen.

"Seriously, I live with the two most beautiful women in Tree Hill." He said smiling, bending down to kiss his mother on the cheek and sitting down all in one swift move. Karen smiled at her son, while Brooke's cheeks slightly flushed.

"Why thank you Lucas." Karen beamed."Would you like to join the beautiful for breakfast?"

"Oh wow, I feel so honored." Lucas joked, holding his hand to his heart in a mimicking manner causing both Brooke and Karen to laugh out loud.

"So," Lucas started. "What do you two have planned for the day?"

"Well, I guess there's some basketball game going on tonight or something." Karen joked. "Me and Keith had talked about going to that. Maybe watch the famous Scott brothers play." She winked at him.

"Ha-ha, funny funny. What about you Brooke? Any big plans tonight?"

"Well," she paused to think. "I was thinking I might get my room in some kind of order. But I need to get everything painted first. So maybe I'll save it all for a rainy day."

"Would you like to come to the game with us, Brooke?" Karen asked. She had no clue about the one time Brooke had actually attempted to go to a Ravens game, and how badly it turned out. Lucas noticed Brooke's expression fell slightly, but not enough to be picked up by Karen.

"Well, I'll have to see if I have any plans or not. But if not, I'd love to go."

"Well, that works for me. And you'll finally get to meet Lucas' Uncle Keith."

"I'm looking forward to it." Brooke smiled genuinely, standing up and placing her plate in the sink.

"I think I have an idea of what we could do now Brooke." Lucas said, also placing his plate in the sink."What's that?"

"Well, I can't tell you – it'll ruin the surprise. But why don't you go shower up and we'll get a move on." He said smiling. He wanted so badly to make her happy.

"Okay…" Brooke said slowly. She was definitely confused about what his 'surprise' could be.

She made her way into the bathroom, and started up the shower.

Several minutes later, she heard a knock at the door followed by Karen's voice. "Brooke, you in the shower?"

"Yeah, why?" she called back. She heard the door open, and what must have been Karen stepping inside.

"Lucas told me to give you these clothes to wear. That's all."

"Oh, well thank you Karen."

"You're very welcome." Brooke heard the door close, and assumed that meant Karen had left. Lucas had picked out clothes for her to wear?

Lucas on the other hand was busy working as fast as he could getting everything in order. He knew he had about fifteen to twenty minutes before Brooke was out of the shower.

Brooke stepped out of the shower and quickly dried herself off. She looked around the room for her clothes and found them resting on the counter. She picked up the clothes and realized they weren't her clothes at all. She picked up a baggy blue T-shirt with the words 'Basketball Camp '04' written in white. There was also a pair of baggy grey sweatpants. This was definitely going to be one of the weirdest surprises ever. She slipped the clothes on, and quickly dried her hair and pulled her hair back into a messy bun. They weren't going anywhere that required her to wear make-up; she could tell that by the clothes Lucas had picked out.

She put her towel and dirty clothes in the hamper and stepped outside only to be greeted by Lucas leaning against the wall of the hallway dressed very similar to what she was wearing.

"You ready?" He said smiling.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She said.

"Alright. Well, close your eyes, and no peeking." He waved his hand in front of her face as she did so, and when he was satisfied she couldn't see, he led her down the hallway and slowly up the stairs. Finally, Brooke felt herself stop.

"Okay Brooke, open your eyes."

Brooke did as she was told but was surprised when she discovered she was standing in her own room. She looked around and saw that the furniture was covered in plastic and pushed in towards the middle of the room.

"I don't get it." She said slowly.

She turned around to find Lucas, and when she did he was standing there with a bucket of paint and two paintbrushes.

"Well, Ms. Davis. We are going to paint your room."

* * *

They decided for Lucas to paint with the roller while Brooke painted the edges with a regular brush. Lucas had brought in his laptop, putting his iTunes on shuffle giving them music while they worked.

Suddenly a song came on that Lucas quickly recognized as 'Shakin' by Rooney. He looked over at Brooke who was singing and dancing along with the music, her messy bun flopping from side to side as she danced and painted. The scene caused him to laugh out loud which made Brooke look over at him. Instead of stopping, which he thought she would do when she turned, she took the brush and used it as a microphone, causing Lucas to laugh louder.

"Think this is funny do ya?" She said as she danced his way. Lucas nodded at her, and was totally caught off guard when she swiped the paint brush across his face, leaving a streak of red from cheek.

"Oh it's war!" Lucas called out, Brooke quickly running from him. The rest of the after noon was spent with the two of them chasing each other, seeing who could get the most paint on the other.

* * *

Hours later, they sat on the back porch, both of them covered in paint, but completely happy.

"I understand if you don't want to come to the game with my mom and Keith, Brooke. I know that I've been pretty stupid in the past." Lucas said, breaking the comfortable silence they had fallen into.

"No," Brooke said pausing slightly. "I think I'd like to go. Everything deserves a second chance right? So what if my first trip to a Ravens game wasn't all that great. It only leaves room for improvement right?"

Lucas looked over at Brooke. Even covered head to toe in paint, she was still breathtaking. "You're pretty amazing you know that?" He said smiling at her.

Brooke smiled at him. "Lucas, what exactly are we?"The question caught him off guard. "Well-"

"Lucas!" Karen yelled from the door. "You had better get in the shower! You need to be at the school in thirty minutes."

"Thanks, Mom." He said looking back at Brooke. "I'm sorry. Can we talk later?"She smiled and nodded. Lucas got up and made his way to the shower, leaving Brooke and her thoughts in tow.

* * *

Lucas barely made it to the school on time. He spent almost twenty minutes in the shower scrubbing the paint off, and he was sure he hadn't gotten it all off yet.

"Dude, Lucas." He heard Tim say. "You're ear is bleeding, man." He looked in the mirror and saw the red paint on his ear. Nope, he had definitely not gotten it all.

"Thanks, I got it covered."

"You okay man?" Nathan came up beside him looking concerned.

"Yeah, me and Brooke were just painting her room. It's all good."

Nathan laughed. "And the paint ended up in your ear? I'm sure it's all good!" He walked away waggling his eyebrows causing Lucas to laugh even more.


	14. Let Me Be The One

_i used my most favorite one tree hill scene in this chapter. enjoy :)_**

* * *

**

**Another Kind of Green**

_Let Me Be The One_

Brooke stood up with Karen, Keith and Haley as they applauded Lucas for yet another three pointer. Between him and Nathan alone, they had scored forty four points, and the Ravens were leading their opponent by fifteen points.

Brooke looked around her and smiled at the little fan section the four of them created. She had been told that Deb, Nathan's mother, was suppose to join them, but got caught up with work. Brooke thought about how scared she, and probably Haley, would have been of this place in different circumstances. Which is why they probably never came to games before, excluding the disaster they had both witnessed the last game they came to. But standing here with Karen, Keith, and Haley she realized why games where as fun as everyone claimed them to be.

The game ended a little while later and the four congratulated their favorite Scott boys on yet another win and arranged to have dinner after the boys had cleaned up and everything.

Riding in the back of Keith's Mustang, Brooke thought a lot about what she and Lucas had almost talked about earllier. When she really thought about it, she was scared of what his answer might be. She liked him. A lot. What if he didn't feel the same way back? What if they really were just friends? Something inside her tried to push those thoughts away. She knew that the way she and Lucas had been acting lately meant something a lot more than friendship. Still, her insecurities tugged at her.

They finally pulled up to Karen's house, and the four of them got out and walked inside. Nathan and Lucas had a team meeting and would then shower up before heading home.

Haley and Brooke took their places at the island while Karen, with a little help from Keith, began to roll out the dough for pizza.

Almost twenty minutes later, Karen was placing the pizza in the oven, excusing herself to go get cleaned up. Haley also excused herself to make a phone call to her parents letting them know where she was, leaving only Brooke and Keith.

Brooke laughed once more as Keith took off his "Kiss the Cook" apron he had on.

"You guys are really great." Brooke said to him nonchalantly. Keith turned to look at her with a quizzical brow.

"You, Karen, and Lucas and this little family you have going on here. It's amazing. I've never seen anything like it. And even just you and Karen. It's amazing you two found each other in this world."

Keith smiled as he nodded his head. "Most people would think our family isa little dysfunctional. I mean, I'm dating my brother's high school girlfriend and the mother of my nephew. It's something right out of a soap opera. But I'm happy, and I like to belief Karen and Lucas are happy." He said with a chuckle. "I've loved Lucas and Karen since I met each of them, and I've never doubted that."

He smiled over at Brooke before leaning down and checking on the _pizza._

"I'm just glad I get to be apart of that, even if it is for a little while."

Keith looked back up at her. "Oh, I think you'll be around for a little longer than that."

Now it was Brooke's turn to look confused.

"I really don't think Lucas will allow it. I've known that boy his entire life and I've never seen him this way. He's in love."

"I doubt that. We're just friends."

"You can think whatever you want. But I know that look in his eyes. I was the same way when I met Karen. Now you can go and play dumb for the next sixteen years like I did or you can wake up and smell the coffee now. He loves you, Brooke."

Brooke opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Haley, Nathan, and Lucas making their way into the kitchen. Nathan sat down in one of the stools next to Brooke, pulling Haley up on his lap. Lucas sat one the other side of Brooke, the two of them locking eye contact.

"Hey you." Lucas said with a low sweet voice that made Brooke's insides do a somersault.

"Hey." She said nervously before looking back over at Keith, who simply winked at her and went to pull out the pizza.

Karen finally came back downstairs and the six of them sat down for dinner.

* * *

Hours later, they all sat on the back porch, laughing and carrying on. It was only after Haley realized it was well after midnight that they started to break everything up. Keith left first, shortly followed by Haley. Karen had gone up to bed immediately after Keith had left, leaving Lucas, Brooke and Nathan outside.

Brooke was deep in thought about what Keith had said earlier. Was Lucas really in love with her? She could only pray the Lucas' uncle knew him as well as Lucas claimed him too. Brooke wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle it if he was wrong. She loved Lucas. She loved him more than anything she had ever loved in her life, and it scared her. She had learned years ago to never put herself in a vulnerable situation, and now here she was in probably the most vulnerable situation in her life. She had grown to need Lucas, looking forward to seeing him every morning when she woke up. It terrified her that things might not always be that way.

She had to tell him. She knew that. She just didn't know how.

Her thoughts were broken as she heard Nathan's phone ringing. Both he and Lucas' phones had been ringing off the hook since they came home from the game, but hadn't answered it once. No one asked any questions though, leaving Brooke to feel she was the only one who didn't know what was going on.

"Why don't you just tell him to go to hell?" Lucas said with a slightly angry voice.

"Like that would stop him. It's Dan." Nathan said with a 'duh' tone.

Brooke found her voice, hoping it wouldn't upset either Scott brother. "What does he want?"

"To tell Nathan he missed two foul shots." Lucas said.

"And to tell Lucas passing isn't an option." Nathan added.

Brooke watched as the two brothers looked at each other and laughed. They had obviously gone through this a lot.

"Oh." She said standing up and yawning. "I think I'm going to bed. I'll see you both tomorrow?"

Both boys nodded, and Brooke quickly looked away when she saw the disappointment in Lucas' eyes. She knew he wanted to continue the conversation from earlier, she just didn't know what to say yet and she was terrified he would turn her down. Right now she wanted to sleep, and maybe tomorrow she would know what to do. "Goodnight boys."

"Night." Nathan said.

"Goodnight Brooke." Lucas said with a slightly dejected voice.

Brooke smiled at them and made her way upstairs to her room.

Lucas looked over at Nathan. "You staying here, man?" He asked as if it were a no-brainer.

"Yeah."

"I'll get ya set up on the couch." Lucas said, standing and going inside followed shortly by Nathan.

* * *

_Brooke carefully stepped into her house. As she stepped into the den she felt something fly past her - barely missing her head, and smash into the wall beside her. She looked down at the broken pieces of glass all around her. _

_"Whore!" a drunken voice yelled from the couch_

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_'Great.' Brooke thought. 'My mother abandoned me and left me with an unemployed drunk of a father.'_

_- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _

_She stepped into the kitchen to be proven wrong. Her father was hunched over a note - her mother's note - on the table. He stood up when heard her step in and turned to face her. His faced was etched with rage._

_"You whore! She left because of you!" He slapped across the face. Brooke stepped back, feeling her cheek burn from where he had hit her._

_"She didn't want you! She never did, you little bitch. And now she's gone and it's your fault." He hit her again, this time much harder. Brooke started to cry._

_"Dad, I'm sor-" _

_"Don't you apologize you little whore. You wanted her to leave. You wanted to ruin all our lives. You were just a stupid mistake." He punched square in the eye. Brooke fell to the ground. _

_He walked to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of Corona, and walked into the living room turning on the TV leaving Brooke laying unconscious on the kitchen floor._

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_"No, Dad. Look, Lucas is a friend. That's all."_

Sure, that's all. Just like your mother's 'friend' right?" He quoted "friend" with his fingers.

_"Dad, it's not like that." She pleaded with him. She was embarrassed that Lucas was here, seeing this situation. Haley knew of what happened to Brooke, but she never saw it._

_"Lucas, I think you should leave." She looked past her father._

_Lucas could see her eyes were pleading with him, but he saw the fear that accompanied them and there was no way he was going to leave. Not after seeing the bruises, and that look in her eyes._

_But before either could say anything, Brooke's father brought up his arm and hit Brooke square in the face. She stumbled to the ground, bringing her hands to where she had just been hitting. That was enough for Lucas. He ran over, took Rick by the shoulder, turned him around and punched him square in the nose. Rick fell to the ground, creating a loud sound as he hit the ground. Lucas went over to Brooke, picking her bridal style and carried her out of the house._

Brooke woke up with tears in her eyes. It wasn't often that she had dreams about her father or what had happened, but she hated when it did. She looked over at the clock. It was 3:04 in the morning.

"What the hell am I doing?" She said quietly to herself. She knew she was being a coward and that was something she would never let herself become. Since the whole ordeal with her father Brooke had been taking the easy route with the things in her life and hiding from the important things. And she was done with that.

She quickly got out of bed, bending down and searching for something under her bed. When she finally found it, she started to walk downstairs.

* * *

Lucas woke with a start when he heard someone knocking at his door. He got out of bed, and walked over to the door. He opened and looked at the girl standing in front of him. Her hair was disheveled; her makeup smeared a little bit. She was in green pajama bottoms and a blue Ravens t-shirt that Lucas identified as his own. She must have gotten it from the laundry. In her hands was a small box the size of a shoe box.

"Brooke?" He asked, his voice a little husky from being asleep.

"This might sound a little weird, but there are 82 letters in here and they're all addressed to you. I wrote them a while ago, but I could never bring myself to give them to you because I was afraid. I was scared of who you were, scared of getting my heart broken. And I was afraid to be vulnerable and I was afraid of you and the way you make me feel. I've been pretty stupid. I should have just told you a long time ago. I mean you saved me Luke. You saved me. I just wanted you to know, _this_..." she said shaking the box in front of her "...is how I feel."

She gave him the box and turned to walk away, leaving Lucas standing in his doorway. "Brooke." He called out, being as quiet as he could. "Come back." She turned to look at him. "I just feel so stupid."

Lucas quickly placed the box on the stand next to his bed. "You have no reason to feel stupid. I'm the guy for you Brooke Davis and I know that I've been stupid and hurt you, but I"

"I love you." She said looking up with tears in her eyes.

"I love you too, pretty girl." He said, smiling as he pulled her closer to him.

Brooke felt sparks shoot down her spine as their lips connected and put her arms around his neck as she deepened the kiss.

For the first time in a long time, everything was going right.

* * *

_review! review! review! i've written several chapters for this story, so no more long waits til the next chapter. hope it was good :)_


	15. Don't Walk Away

**Another Kind of Green**

_Don't Walk Away_

Brooke woke up the next morning and realized she wasn't in her room. She quickly looked around and suddenly remembered last night's events. After pretty much professing her love to Lucas, they had stayed up a while longing kissing and cuddling on his bed until they eventually fell asleep. A smile broke on her face as she remembered how utterly perfect it had all been. The smile faded when she realized Lucas wasn't there next to her. It was then she heard familiar voices down the hall. She quickly got out of bed and walked out to the kitchen.

There she saw Nathan, Haley, Lucas and Karen all sitting at the table eating breakfast. Her eyes first connected with Lucas' and both of them smiled.

"Well it's about time sleepyhead!" Brooke shifted her eyes to Haley, who had just spoken.

Brooke smiled. "Yeah, yeah." Her eyes then shifted over to Karen who gave her a knowing look. Brooke realized that she had just walked out of Lucas' room, and Karen knew that she hadn't slept in her own room last night.

"Oh Karen! I-uh-we-nothing-sorry-uh." She began sputtering out.

"Lucas already told me Brooke. It's okay." Karen said, laughing a little at Brooke's reaction. "Just don't let it happen a lot, okay?"

Brooke nodded her head, still completely terrified.

"Oh, and it's about time you two figured it out." Karen said laughing.

Brooke smiled back at her, slowing easing out of the shock she just put herself through. She took her seat next to Lucas and reached for a plate, putting a little bit of eggs and a few slices of bacon on it. She ate with one hand and reached for Lucas' with the other.

The five of them fell into comfortable conversation, staying at the table long after finishing their meals. They decided on moving into the living room to talk, and Brooke excused herself to take a quick shower.

They sat in the living room, and Haley listened closely to hear the shower start up. When she finally did, she saw her chance.

"Lucas, Brooke's birthday is this Saturday." She said, still trying to keep her voice quiet.

"Really?" He said surprised. "Why didn't she say anything about it?"

"She never does. She never wants to make a big deal about it so she never says anything. It's been that way for years. I was just thinking we should do something special for her, seeing how it's her eighteenth birthday and all."

Lucas thought for a moment and smiled. "I have an idea."

He quickly told them his idea, making plans for how the day would fall out. He then switched the subject to basketball, not wanting Brooke to hear a thing.

She came out several minutes later and joined them on the couches. Lucas looked over at her. She was in a pair of baggy sweats, a t-shirt, and her hair was down and dripping wet but she was still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He pulled her closer to him, leaning in to kiss the side of her head.

"So Karen." Brooke said. "What plans have you got for today?"

Karen took a sip of her coffee, and placed it back on the table. "Well, there's this open mic thing at the café today."

"That sounds really cool Mom." Lucas said genuinely.

"Yeah. I'm not so sure about it. Deb's completely in charge. She's hoping it brings in the younger generation of Tree Hill into the café. I don't know." She said laughing a bit.

"That does sound really interesting Karen." Brooke said with a knowing voice, looking over at Haley. "Especially if you were someone who-"

"Brooke." Haley said with a stern voice. "Stop."

"Oh, come on Haley. Don't be such a baby."

"Am I missing something?" Nathan said confused, looking between Brooke and Haley.

"Just that your girlfriend here has an-" Haley reached over and covered Brooke's mouth with her hand.

"Don't listen to her." Haley said with a flat voice. "Apparently last night's events made her delusional."

Lucas, Nathan and Karen watched as Haley's eyes went wide and pulled her hand away from Brooke's mouth and wiping it on her jeans.

"Are you like five?" Haley asked disgusted.

"Haley can totally sing." Brooke blurted out before her friend could stop her.

"She's lying." Haley said through gritted teeth.

"Haley, don't lie. You have an amazing voice."

"Can you really sing Hales?" Nathan asked, somewhat excited.

"Everyone can sing, Nathan." She giggled nervously.

"Yeah, but we don't all sound like you when we do." Brooke said adamantly. She wasn't going to let Haley slip away from this again. Time after time Brooke had convinced her to do some talent show or open mic performance but Haley backed out every time. Maybe with Nathan here to give a little support she might actually do it.

"You should sing Haley." Karen said for the first time since this topic was brought up. "I really need singers. I've only had two people sign up so far."

Haley felt sick as she looked between the four people surrounding her. She could see in Nathan's eyes he really wanted her to do it. "Okay." She said slowly. "I'll sing."

"Yes!" Brooke squealed and clapped her hands.

* * *

Haley sat next to Nathan on a couch in Karen's Café, adjacent to the couch Brooke and Lucas were cuddled up on.

"I can't believe you convinced me to do this." She said wringing her hands together.

"You're going to do great Hales." Nathan said, trying to calm her down.

"You don't know that." She said quietly.

"_I_ do though." Brooke said happily. "I've heard you sing plenty of times."

"In the shower Brooke. I was in the shower. You weren't even supposed to hear me."

"Well, too bad. 'Cause you're getting up there even if I have to drag you up there."

They turned their attention to the stage as the current singer ended their song and received a few claps from the crowd.

"Man, tough crowd." Brooke said.

"Not helping Brooke." Haley said. Nathan pulled her close to him, gently rubbing her side.

"Awesome job." Karen said from the stage. "I want to remind everyone that you can sign up to sing over at the counter. Alright, next we have Haley James!" She clapped her hands together and walked off stage.

Haley got up off the couch and slowly made her way up to the impromptu stage set up in the café.

She sat herself down in front of the piano and ran her fingers over the keys, taking in a sharp breath.

"Woooo Haley!" Brooke screamed loudly causing people to look at her and making Nathan and Lucas laugh. "I want to have your baby!"

Haley shot a look at Brooke who had a devilish smile on her face. She looked back at the piano and began to play.

_I could never leave you  
__Even if you asked me to  
__I could never say goodbye  
__Make you cry, Oh_

_I could never stumble  
__With you walking by my side  
__I could never love you  
__More than I already do_

_So don't walk away  
__Don't walk away  
__Don't lie, tell me that you're gonna stay  
__Please don't walk away_

_If I made a promise,  
__I would stay by your side  
__It's only the beginning  
__I love you_

_So don't walk away  
__Don't walk away  
__Don't lie and tell me that you're gonna stay  
__Please don't walk away  
__Please don't walk away  
__  
Oh, when all the road is dark and dreary  
__You know my nature, does not swell  
__This disposition must be washed away forever  
__So, please don't walk away  
__Please don't walk away  
__Please don't walk away_

_But I could never leave you  
__Even if you asked me to  
__Now I could never say goodbye,  
__Make you cry, oh_

_Oh_

As she played the last few notes of the song, Haley looked out to people in the café. To her surprise, they broke out in applause. She smiled as she stood up and walked down to where Nathan, Lucas, Brooke were sitting.

"How good was my girl?" Nathan said proudly as he met her halfway, pulling her into an enormous hug. She smiled up at him, pulling him down for a kiss,

"That was so much fun." She said as they pulled apart. They walked back over to the couches. Haley looked over at Brooke who was giving her an expectant look.

"Okay, Brooke. You were right." She said laughing.  
"I know, right?" Brooke said smirking. "But you were incredible Haley James."

They continued to talk for a while before deciding it was time to head home. The two couples stood outside the entrance of the café for several moments saying goodbye before they parted ways. Haley and Brooke hugged, and each couple turned the respective directions and headed home.

"Brooke!" Brooke heard Haley yell from behind her. She turned around and saw the petite brunette walking up to her and pulling her into another hug.

"Thank you."

* * *

_bethany joy galeotti is so freaking talented. that's one of her songs up there, go check it out. anywho, i know it's a short chapter, but please review and i'll post the next chapter (that is totally already written) here soon_


	16. They Say It's Your Birthday

**_just... throw something at the screen. i know it's been forever since i've updated, but here's the good news. it's summer, my brother's a married man so i'm no longer a slave, and i have nothing to do but to sit and write stories for all of you on my laptop. sound good? i hope you enjoy this one, the next one's a tad bit more dramatic i think_

* * *

**

Another Kind of Green

_They Say It's Your Birthday  
_

Brooke woke up early, sitting up and stretching as she worked through the layers of sleep. She smiled to herself, thinking slightly about how amazing the last few weeks had been before looking over and seeing a single white lily resting on the bed. She picked it up, finding a small note attached to the stem, and read the note.

_Good morning pretty girl,_

_I can't begin to tell you how much I wish I was lying next to you right now, but it's time for you to get up and get dressed and come meet me at my mom's cafe. I'll be waiting- Lucas_

P.S. Wear comfortable shoes. I love you, and happy birthday.

Reading the last line, Brooke groaned inwardly before pushing the covers off of the bed and storming into the bathroom.

"Oh yes, Haley will _definitely _hear about this one." She muttered to herself before stepping into the shower.

* * *

An hour later, Brooke pushed open the door to the cafe to find Lucas sitting on the couch reading the newspaper with a smirk across his face. Brooke walked over and plopped herself down next to him.

"Hi." She said in a slight pout.

"Why hello there birthday girl, how are you this morning?" Lucas said putting the newspaper down and leaning over to give her a quick kiss.

"Better now that I'm with you." She smiled at him before her face darkened. "Haley told you, didn't she?"

Lucas looked at her with a smug expression and shrugging his shoulders as if saying, _"Who knows?"_

"You can play Mr. Innocent but I know it was her who told you. She's the only person who actually knows when my birthday is."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I just don't celebrate it, and no, I really don't want to talk about it." Brooke said quickly.

"Okay. So would you like some breakfast before we get started with all these amazing plans I have for your birthday?"

"Lucas, do we really have to celebrate my birthday?" Brooke whined. "Why don't we just say it was last week and we all forgot?"

Lucas couldn't help but laugh at how cute she looked at that moment. "Sorry, but no. Let's go eat."

He grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the bar, both of them sitting down. A few moments later, Karen emerged from the kitchen wiping her hands off on a towel before throwing it into a sink behind her.

"Well, good morning Brooke. Happy Birthday!"

"It's not my birthday." Brooke said flatly looking out the window. Karen shot Lucas a quizzical look wanting him to explain.

"Today is Brooke's birthday. She's just trying not to celebrate it." He said with a shrug of his shoulders telling him mother he wasn't exactly sure why.

"Well, that's a shame. I guess I'll have to return this present then." She said reaching under the counter and pulling out a rectangular wrapped present and placing it onto the counter. Brooke's gaze shifted from the windows to the box in front of her, her eyes getting wider by the second.

"Y-you got me a present?"

"Well, I got it for your birthday, but I guess since its not-"

"No, no. It is." Brooke said quickly and then paused for a moment. "I'm just not used to celebrating it."

"Well, get used to it. As long as you're apart of this family, we're going to make your birthdays special. I wouldn't have it any other way. So why don't you open your present? I'm a bit nervous you'll hate it." She laughed.

Karen wasn't lying about that either. She had raised a boy for the last eighteen years and she had only ever had to buy boy presents. She could buy Lucas a plain white t-shirt and he'd probably be happy with it. Buying a present for an eighteen year old girl was definitely a more nerve-wracking event. She had brought Keith out with her one day, finding out that was more of a disaster than her going alone.

"Karen, I know I won't hate it." Brooke said.

"Well, we'll never know if you don't open it." Karen joked.

Brooke looked over at Lucas who gave her an encouraging nod. She looked at the present and softly tore at the wrapping on the corner of the box. She tore paper off of the box and looked down to see a Steve Madden shoe box.

"You didn't." Brooke said with excitement. She opened the lid of the shoe box and squealed. "Oh you did!"

Karen and Lucas both laughed at her reaction. "Well, I saw you looking at them when we went to the mall that day we bought the stuff for your bedroom. I hope you like them."

"Like them? They're absolutely amazing!" Brooke squealed again. "I could so get used to this birthday thing! Thank you so much Karen!"

Brooke stood up on her stool and leaned over the counter to pull a very shocked Karen into a hug. "Thank you."

* * *

"So, you going to tell me where we're going or you going to continue being all cryptic?" Brooke asked from her spot in the passenger seat of Lucas' truck.

"Well, I would probably continue being 'cryptic' but we're here." Lucas said making a right hand turn into the mall parking lot.

"The mall?" Brooke asked confused.

"Uh huh." Lucas said pulling into a parking space and getting out of the car. He walked over to her side of the car and took her hand as they walked inside together.

"Okay, so we're standing at the entrance to the mall. What next?"

Lucas reached into his pocket and pulled out a stop watch. "This."

"I don't get it." Brooke looked at the watch and then back to Lucas. "Okay, so today is your eighteenth birthday."

"Correct?"

"Okay, so you have exactly eighteen minutes to buy whatever you want. Once you step foot in a store I start this watch and I'll stop it the second you step back out." Lucas said handing her his debit card. "And you'll probably be needing this as well."

Brooke tried hard to hold back her excitement at what he had just told her- eighteen minutes to buy whatever she wanted. But the reasonable side of her told her she couldn't accept something like that from Lucas. He had already done too much for her as it was.

"I can't take that from you Lucas. It's too much."

"First off, you haven't even bought anything yet. Personally, I don't think you even have it in you. You might not be able to spend five dollars in eighteen minutes." He challenged. "Besides, I can see the excitement in your eyes. Please accept that I _want _to do this for your birthday, Brooke. I'd do more if I could."

Brooke hesitated before her face broke out into a huge grin. "This is seriously the best birthday ever."

She threw her arms around Lucas' shoulders and kissed his cheek. "Thank you Lucas."

"Anything for you Brooke." He smiled giving her his special smile before turning towards the mall. "Alright, let's see what you got."

They walked down the mall hand in hand, Lucas laughing at Brooke trying to look inside each store without actually stepping foot into it.

"Okay." Brooke said as they stopped in front of a clothing store. "Ready?"

"Ready." Brooke said and walked quickly into the store. She ran around the store looking at all the items hanging on display before grabbing a shirt and a pair of jeans and running towards the register, pushing two people out of the way in the process of doing so. She impatiently tapped her foot while the clerk rang out her items and grabbed the bag and ran out the door.

"So?" Brooke said breathing slightly heavier than before.

"Pretty impressive. You still have fifteen minutes and thirty eight seconds left."

Brooke gave a cocky grin before reaching into the bag and pulling out the shirt she bought. "What do ya think?"

Lucas nodded and pulled out the good boyfriend card. "Very pretty." Brooke's smile grew wider and put the shirt back into the bag.

"I do think we need to inset a new rule here though. If any other person gets injured while you're in a store you lose a minute off the clock." He laughed referring to the two people she pushed out of her way.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Brooke said hiding a smile. "Sure. So where to next?"

* * *

Three hours later, Brooke stood in front of a book store trying to peek in.

"Alright Brooke, you have a minute and four seconds left. You sure you want to spend it here?" Lucas said standing beside her, arms filled with shopping bags, one hand secured on the stop watch.

Brooke nodded and walked into the store. Lucas watched as she ran through the aisles before stopping in front of the magazines and running over to the register. He held back a laugh as she tapped her arms impatiently as she waited for the clerk to come from the back of the store and ring out her items.

"You have thirty seconds Brooke!" He called into the store receiving a glare from his girlfriend.

"Fifteen seconds!"

Brooke looked at the clerk scanning her magazines. "Could you please hurry?" She handed him the debit card.

"Five seconds!"

Brooke grabbed the bag, receipt and card and ran out of the store.

"Man, just on time. Now let's see what you got."

Brooke pulled out a few fashion magazines flipping through them in a dramatic manner causing Lucas to laugh. "So did you have fun?" He asked as she put the magazines back in the bag.

"Wait, I'm not done!" Brooke said and pulled out a copy of _The Great Gatsby. _"You said you wanted to read it, so now you can."

"You can't buy me a present with _your_ present money on _your _birthday." Lucas teased.

"Yes, I can. It's a thank you for the best birthday I can ever remember."

"Well, I'll that as a yes to the fun question."

"I'm serious Luke. Thank you."

"You're welcome Brooke. I love you and you deserve a good birthday."

Brooke leaned up and kissed him, wrapped her arm around him and the two walked out to his truck.

The put all of the bags behind the seat and crawled up in the seats before Lucas started the truck and headed home.

"When I was five, my parents' business went under. I came home that year on my birthday expecting a pony, lots of presents, cake, this huge party, but there was nothing. I mean, they didn't even remember it was my birthday. They never did after that." Brooke said out of nowhere, watching the cars pass by out the window.

Lucas took her hand in his and rubbed small circles with his thumb. "I'm sorry you went through all of that Brooke. I don't get how someone as amazing as you could go through that, could _deserve _to go through that. But I promise you I'm going to do everything I can to change that from now on. I'm sticking with you Brooke, and I'm going to do whatever I can to make your life perfect."

Brooke smiled at him, wiping away the single tear that had fallen. "You already have."

* * *

Brooke and Lucas went home, taking Brooke's new things into her room and taking time to watch a movie together on the couch.

"Have I told you that this has been the best birthday Luke? Thank you."

"Wait, you think it's over?" Lucas said looking down with a smirk.

"What?"

"Don't think you're getting off that easy Brooke Davis." He said looking down at his watch. "Speaking of, why don't you go get dressed and we'll take off."

"Where are we going?"

"That I can't tell you."

Brooke gave him a quizzical look before jogging up the stairs and changing into a new outfit she had picked out that day and finishing it off with her new shoes from Karen. She quickly touched up her make up, and went downstairs to meet Lucas, who had also changed into a button up shirt and dark jeans.

"You look beautiful Brooke." He said holding out his hand to meet hers and led her outside. They walked down the street hand in hand until Lucas stopped in front of Karen's cafe.

Once again, Brooke looked at him confused. She looked at the dark cafe in front of her, trying to figure out why he had brought her here.

"Go in." Lucas said softly.

"Luke, it's closed."

"Just go in. It's okay." He squeezed her hand as a sign of reassurance.

She walked up the few steps to the store and opened the door, jumping back in shock as the lights flipped on and people jumped out yelling "surprise!"

Brooke put her hands to her mouth and smiled as she looked around the room. She saw Haley and Nathan, Karen and Keith, Haley's family, a few members from the basketball team, and a few other friends from school.

"Oh my god!" Brooke squealed. She looked to her left and saw Haley walking over to her with a shy smile on her face.

"Mad at me?" She asked quietly.

Brooke didn't answer but took her friend into her arms. Pulling back Haley saw the biggest smile on her best friend's face.

"Thank you Haley. This has been one of the best days of my life."

* * *

**_okay, so i'm iffy on this chapter. let me know what ya think. the next one will be up tomorrow night or saturday morning, no exceptions. _**


	17. Some Kind of Wonderful

_i won't make excuses as to why i've been such a bum about updating. i'm terribly sorry. it hit me today as i was updating this chapter that this story is already at seventeen chapters...wow. so please read this, and review. i seem to be getting less and less reviews on all my stories and i'm a bit worried. _

_if you check out my profile there's a link to the dresses brooke "makes" in this chapter. so go check em out!_

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**Another Kind of Green**

_Some Kind of Wonderful_

Brooke sat down on the couch and nuzzled herself into Lucas' side. "Whatcha watching boyfriend?"

Lucas looked down at her and smiled. "Nothing really. Just kinda browsing at the moment. Is there something in particular you want to watch?"

"Well, I'm sure there's a good chick flick on HBO or something, and we both know how much I love torturing you with chick flicks." She said with a giggle, leaning up to kiss him when his phone rang. Lucas rolled his eyes at the timing of the call and pulled the phone out to check the ID.

"Who is it?" Brooke asked when Lucas groaned in response to the caller.

"Dan." Lucas got up off the couch and flipped open the phone. "Hello?"

Brooke watched him as he paced back in forth, his expression cold and hard, making short responses every now and then.

"Uh, Dan, will you hold for just a moment? I have another call coming in."

Lucas gripped his hands into fists before responding again.

"Well what if it's one of those scouts calling from the New Worthington game?"

Lucas smiled, knowing that Dan wouldn't be able to disagree with that. He nodded a few times before clicking over to the other line.

"Hey Nate. I was just talking to father of the year."

Brooke continued to watch as Lucas' stony expression from before changed to a more jovial one, laughing and joking around with his brother. His gaze shifted over to her causing their eyes to lock, and Lucas gave Brooke a smile that sent butterflies to her stomach.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll ask her. I don't think it's really fair on them Nate, but I totally agree with you."

Brooke's eyes burrowed in confusion as she heard this. Was he talking about her?

"Alright man, see you later then. You up for a game at the Rivercourt later tonight?"

"Sweet, sweet. See you then."

Lucas looked at Brooke again, sending her a look of dread before clicking back over to the conversation with Dan.

"I know. I'm really sorry. It was Nathan. He wanted to ask if he could bring a guest Friday night."

Brooke laughed as Lucas brought up his hand to his head in the shape of a gun and pulled the 'trigger.'

"Okay, I'll tell him. I might bring one as well." Lucas looked at Brooke again. "No, no. I don't think you've met her."

"Okay, well I'll let you know then. I'll see you Friday."

Lucas finally hung up the phone before slinking down next to Brooke. "Dan wants me and Nathan to have dinner with him Friday night."

"Well, that sounds like….fun." Brooke said holding in a laugh.

"It's his birthday. Will you go with me, please?" Lucas asked with pleading eyes. "Haley's going, and it'll be so much less awkward for us all if you're there and he won't be-"

Brooke grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze causing him to stop talking. "Lucas, of course I'll go with you."

Lucas let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you. You don't know how bad he can be."

"Oh wow. That really makes me want to go now." Brooke teased.

"No, I'm just saying maybe with you and Haley there he might not harp on me and Nathan so much about basketball."

"Well, if it's an evening I get to spend with you I really can't complain, even if I do have to meet the infamous Dan Scott." She said, accentuating the last part and raising her eyebrows to add a dramatic effect.

"Ha-ha." Lucas said sarcastically sitting back down next to her, pulling her into his lap. "So I think I remember you saying something about torturing me with a chick flick. You know we could always call Nate and Haley and make it a double date."

"Oh, you are so whipped." Brooke smiled and leaned up to give him a kiss.

"Okay, so please tell me why we're here again?" Haley asked Brooke while holding up a set of needles.

"Because we, Haley, are going to both of our boyfriends' father's birthday dinner and apparently it's formal." Brooke said searching through piles of fabrics. "And by the way, have I mentioned how awesome it is that our boyfriends are brothers?"

"Several times Brooke. I'm still confused on why the occasion brings us to JoAnn Fabrics."

"Haley, Haley, Haley. Do you not know me at _all_?" Brooke asked with a devilish grin on her face. "I'm going to make our dresses."

Haley gave her a meek look. "Can you do that in two days?"

"Haley!" Brooke exclaimed dramatically. "I realize you're spending a lot of time with boytoy, but please do not forget that I am still _Brooke Davis._"

"Oh, don't worry. I won't." Haley laughed. "So tell me, what exactly do you have in mind?"

Haley listened as Brooke explained what each of their dresses would look like. She definitely wouldn't lie- she was excited about what Brooke had planned and Haley knew that almost anything Brooke made was absolutely amazing.

She continued to follow Brooke around the store as her best friend threw random things into the cart Haley was pushing.

"Hales?" Brooke asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever met Dan before?"

Haley could hear the nervousness in Brooke's voice. She thought back to the one time she had met Dan and winced. "Yeah, once."

Brooke immediately caught her tone. "That bad, huh?"

"He's just an ass that's all. He made plenty of comments to me and Nathan about how basketball needed to be his number one priority and he needed to get rid of all distractions, which basically meant me. He tried to belittle me a lot, you know make me feel not good enough for his son. Stuff like that."

"Great." Brooke said drawing out the word. "If you're not good enough, how is he ever going to like me?"

"Lucas loves you, Karen loves you, Keith loves you, Nathan thinks you're pretty rad, and I definitely love you. Who gives a damn what Dan Scott thinks?" Haley said walking up and putting her arm around her best friend.  


"You're right, Haley. Thanks." Brooke smiled at her friend. "Oh my gosh! This fabric is perfect!" She said, squealing as she ran across the store.

"We're meeting them at your house, right?" Nathan asked Lucas as he fidgeted with his tie.

"That's what Brooke said when I talked to her earlier."

"Okay. Just double checking." Nathan looked down hopelessly at the tie in his hands. Lucas laughed at him before taking the tie and tying it for his brother.

"So," Nathan continued as Lucas adjusted the tie. "Haley told me that Brooke made their dresses. Is that true?"

"Wait, what?"

"Haley told me earlier that Brooke made the dresses they're wearing to dinner. I didn't know she could do that kind of stuff."

"Uh, I didn't either." Lucas looked up at his brother.

"Haley said she's pretty kick ass at it."

"Wow. Well, I guess that would kind of explain why she's been locked up in her room for the last two days. She yelled at me every time I tried to come see her. She even threw a brush at me." He laughed. "I mean, I've seen some of her sketches on her desk, and they're really good. I just never knew she could actually make them."

"Did anyone know?" Nathan asked as Lucas handed him the tie.

"Good point. It's kind of like Haley's singing thing. Here everyone in Tree Hill is raving over their star basketball players and I give you five years before Haley has a Grammy and Brooke's some rich and famous fashion designer."

"Well, then I'll say that makes us the lucky ones then, don't you think?" Nathan said sliding the blue and green tie over his head, finally satisfied with it.

"I'd definitely agree to that."

"Haley, stop fussing!" Brooke hissed as she sewed up the final stitches to Haley's dress. "They're going to be here any minu-"

She stopped at the sound of someone knocking on her bedroom door. "Brooke, Haley. You guys about ready?"

"Damnit." Brooke said through her teeth. She cleared her throat and called out, "Just give us a few minutes and we'll meet you downstairs."

She quickly finished the last details on the dress before grabbing her own and turning around to slip it on. She zipped up the side and turned around to look at her friend. To say she looked good was an understatement. Her hair was down in soft curls framing her face. Her neutral and brown tones she used on her face brought out the rich dark color of her eyes and the knee length royal blue gown fit her to a tee. Brooke smiled to herself on that last part.

"Wow, you're looking pretty hot Hales."

"Thank you. You look pretty 'hot' yourself Brooke."

Brooke turned to look at herself one last time. She ran her fingers through her curled hair leaning in closer to make sure her eyes and mascara had that 'smoky' look she was striving for and then stepped back to look at her own dress. It was probably one of the most favorite things she had ever made. Between the white silk and tiered pattern, she knew it was something she could put into a portfolio to show off later in life.

"I guess I didn't do that bad of a job." She said smugly, reaching down and putting on her shoes.

"Oh you know you rock." Haley said laughing. "You ready to go?"

"Let's get to it." Brooke said confidently.

The two girls linked arms and made their way down the stairs. The second they stepped onto the bottom step Brooke knew she had done well on the dresses. The look on each of their boyfriend's faces said enough.

Brooke parted from her friend and made her way over to Lucas, stopping briefly to tell Nathan to stop drooling who rolled his eyes in response to her.

"Boyfriend." She said standing on her toes to give him a kiss. "Hi."

"Hello yourself." He said taking her hand and lacing their fingers together." Can I just tell you that you look amazing?"

"Yes you can. And thank you. You're looking pretty dashing yourself."

"Well, I knew I needed to clean up quite a bit if I was going to be standing next to you. You know I heard this rumor that your dresses were handmade."

Brooke's smiled grew wider. "You think I did an alright job?"

Nathan looked away from Haley and cut in to the conversation. "Can I just say thank you right now for the amazing job you did?" He turned back to Haley, whose face was now bright red, and the two walked out the front door.

"He's right Brooke. You did an amazing job. Why didn't you tell me you could do stuff like this?"

She gave him a sly smile and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I guess I just figured it wouldn't really be that interesting to you."

"I think its amazing Brooke. It's something you love, which means it's important to me, and you're awesome at it. I'm not just saying that either. I know I'm not a big fashion critic, but I am a guy and this dress is perfect."

Brooke laughed at that comment and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you."

"I guess this explains the creepy headless body in your room."

"Lucas! It's my manikin. It's very important."

Lucas nodded and smiled and led her out of the house where Nathan and Haley were waiting on them.

"You guys ready for this?" Nathan said sarcastically helping Haley into the car.

Brooke's mind flashed to the conversation she had had with Haley a few days prior, and she instantly grew nervous. She had never heard anything good about Dan Scott, and with the similar opinions of her two close friends and Lucas, she wasn't sure how well this dinner would go. Besides, any man that could leave Karen was an idiot. In the short time she had spent with Lucas' family, she had grown to love Karen like she used to love her own mother.

Lucas and Brooke both got into the car and before Brooke even realized it they were parked outside of an enormous white beach house.

"He lives here?" Brooke whispered into Lucas' ear as they stepped out of the car.

"Yeah, when Deb and Dan split he got this house and Deb got the one in town."

"But I've heard you mention Dan being over at Deb's house plenty of times. They're divorced?"

"Yeah, but try telling him that. He's Dan Scott. He'll do whatever he wants to."

Brooke's mouth formed an 'o' and she looked back to the house. "He pays for this with a car dealership?"

"Supposedly it's really successful. Deb's parents are kind of rich as well, and the club is doing really well too. So Dan really got the better end of the deal in the divorce. Deb practically paid for most of the stuff he now owns, dealership included."

"To make a long story short, Dan's an ass." Nathan said cutting into the conversation.

Brooke nodded at him, the butterflies in her stomach only grew from the conversation being held. The four walked up the stairs of the front porch and Nathan knocked on the door. Moments later, Dan opened the door and Brooke finally saw the man Lucas and Nathan both called their father.

Nathan and Haley both greeted him and stepped inside, a bad comment escaping Dan's mouth about the couple before turning to Brooke and his other son.

"Ah, you must be Miss Davis." Dan said holding out his hand for Brooke, kissing the one she had placed into his. A wave of uneasiness shot up Brooke's arm, causing her to be creeped out from the get go.

"Yes." She said finding her voice. "Yes, I am. It's such a pleasure to meet you." She lied. Her hand quickly found Lucas' and she instantly felt better.

"And you as well. " He smiled and turned to Lucas. "You didn't tell me how beautiful she was son. She's an absolute gem. "

"Yeah, well, sorry." Lucas said dryly to Dan's attempts of flattery. He had heard of how Dan treated Haley the first time he met her, and standing here now, Lucas was confused why he was treating Brooke the exact opposite. "Why don't we go inside and join the others?"

"That's a great idea son. I've invited Keith over, as well as my parents. It should be a fun evening."

"I can't wait." Lucas said looking over to Brooke and rolling his eyes behind Dan's back. Brooke bit her lip in order to hold back a laugh. It was definitely going to be an eventful evening.

_so, that's it. click that little button down there and review. it would make me super happy. also, don't forget to check out their dresses._

_next up: the dinner!_

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	18. The World Spins Madly On

_Hello there ladies and_ _gents. Here's the next chapter for you lovely lovely people. Did anyone else see the Dark Knight over the weekend? Wasn't it simply amazing? _

_Okay, onto my story. I wanted to answer a few questions ot comments that were said in reviews, so yeah, here we go: _

_BrookeRoberts : "Another Kind of Green" is a song by John Mayer. An amazing song at that. All of my fanfic titles and chapter titles are from songs. I'll start posting the artist at the end of each chapter if you'd like. This chapter is called The World Spins Madly On by the Weepies. _

_geea2- I'm right there with ya. I'm brewing a few ideas on how to incorporate the wicked witch of the east into my stories. (Nothing personal, just wish she'd back off the Lucas train a bit) I do think that THH is an important part of the story, and the next few chapters will be centered around it _

_several of you have asked where you can hear the songs I talk about. My profile has a link to a xanga that has all the songs from my stories. My profile also features pcictures, like the ones Brooke and Haley wear in this chapter. _

* * *

**Another Kind of Green**  
_The World Spins Madly On_

Brooke eyed the random vases or pictures on the wall. Looking around at the decorations, Brooke assumed that Deb had decorated this house before the couple divorced or Dan had hired a decorator to help give the house its homey feel. Dan didn't really come across to her as a decorating kind of guy. She followed Lucas and Dan into the sitting room, sticking as close to Lucas as she physically could, until they were met with five pairs of eyes. She welcomed the three she knew- having Haley, Nathan and Keith here would definitely make this occasion slightly more comfortable- but she received stern glares from the elderly couple in the corner.

She assumed that they were Dan and Keith's parents- Royal and Mae Scott. She had heard a little about them from both Lucas and Keith but not enough to make her feel safe just yet. She smiled at the couple across the rooms, trying to read their gazes as she did so.

"Brooke," Lucas said clearing his throat. "You know Keith, Nathan and Haley, and these are my grandparents, Royal and Mae. Royal, Mae, this is my girlfriend Brooke."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." Brooke said giving them the most believable smile she could muster. Royal gave her a curt nod, sending Brooke's stomach into knots and making her feel about two feet tall as he did so. To her surprise, Mae smiled back at her and gave her a genuinely warm greeting. "Hello Brooke. It is wonderful to meet you as well. Dan told us that Lucas would be bringing a guest, and since we've already had the pleasure to meet Haley, I'm glad we could meet you as well."

Broke smiled at the elderly woman, thanking God for her reaction. The more people she could get on her side the better.

"Why don't we all move into the dining room?" Mae said rising from her chair. "I didn't spend all day preparing my Danny Boy's birthday dinner for nothing."

She was met with comments of agreement and the group made their way into the dining room. Brooke's eyes slightly widened at the sight in front of her. Trays of food had already been placed on the tables, the smell of it all greeting them as they each into the room. Brooke wasn't exactly sure if she had ever seen this much food in her entire life. Weren't there only eight of them eating?

"They always overdo things like this." Lucas whispered into her ear after sensing what she must have been feeling. They walked over to the table, Lucas pulling out her chair before Dan spoke up.

"Miss Davis, why don't you sit next to me?" Dan said with a wickedly sweet voice.

Brooke looked at Lucas who slightly rolled his eyes and pulled out the chair for her, taking the seat right next to her. Keith sat next to him, while Haley, Nathan and Mae sat across from them, allowing Royal and Dan to sit on the ends.

"Keith, would you like to say prayer?" Dan asked with a hint of mischief in his eye. Lucas looked at his father with slight annoyance. Dan did this every time they met for dinner with the family. Apparently when they were children Keith messed up saying prayer at some big event or something and had been embarrassed of it ever since. It amazed Lucas that as small as this whole thing was, Dan still used it to make himself feel like the better man.

"I'll say it Dan." Lucas said. "I think it's my turn anyways."

"Son, I don't think it's proper to call your father by his first name." Royal said from the other end of the table.

Brooke felt Lucas' grip on her hand tighten underneath the table. "Yeah, well it's not exactly proper for someone to knock up your high school girlfriend before leaving her high and dry and moving on to knock up someone else, is it? So how about I just say prayer now?"

After hearing no reply, Lucas bowed his head." Lord, please bless this day and this food we are about to eat. Thank you for this event and the wonderful company we are able to share it with." Brooke felt a gentle squeeze on her hand underneath the table. "Once again, thank you Lord for all that you have done for us and please allow us to be safe and happy as we spend this evening together. Amen."

A chorus of 'Amen' was heard and immediately following the food began to be passed around.

"Do you go to Tree Hill High as well Brooke?" Mae asked as she passed a bowl of mashed potatoes to her husband.

"Yes, I'm in the same grade as Lucas, Nathan and Haley."

"I see. I guess I've never really seen you at any of the events Royal and I have attended."

Brooke smiled at the woman, knowing exactly the only events they probably attended were basketball games. It seemed as though basketball was a heaven sent thing in this family.

"No probably not. Haley and I always kind of did our own thing I guess." She smiled at her best friend. "Although, I can safely say we've found a new interest in the Ravens games."

Mae nodded and looked at her husband who had begun to speak. "What schools are you looking at?"

Brooke hated this question. She hated being defined by what school she would attend in almost two years time from now. She wasn't one of those overactive juniors who had been already going on campus 

visits. "Well, I've looked at a few schools in New York as well as a few here in North Carolina. Duke actually has a really good fashion program."

"Fashion?" Royal immediately replied. "What kind of study is that? Don't you think that's a little presumptuous miss?"

"How so?" Brooke politely challenged.

"It's kind of like the acting business. Thousands and thousands of girls go off to Hollywood to become actresses and end up as prostitutes on the street. I just think you should aim for something that's achievable."

"Don't you wish for Lucas and Nathan to play basketball at the college level?" She replied.

Lucas looked over at his girlfriend and smiled. He was proud of her for standing tall through a tête-a- tête with Royal.

"I think that it's safe to say that Lucas and Nathan have a given talent that will allow them to play basketball at a higher level. We've all been witnesses to that."

On the inside, Brooke was screaming. How could this man insult her without even knowing her at all?

"Brooke's actually an amazing designer." Lucas said confidently in her defense.

"Yeah." Nathan joined in. "She actually made the dresses she and Haley are wearing tonight."

"Well that definitely is something." Dan said joining the conversation. "Your dress, Miss Davis, is incredible."

Brooke, along with the rest of the table, watched as Dan's gaze went down and stopped at the neckline of her chest. She heard Lucas cough next to her and the grip on her hand tightened. On one side Brooke was immensely creeped out by Dan's inappropriate looks but was enjoying the silent conversation she and Lucas were having with their entwined hands.

If the table wasn't already awkward, it was well on its way.

"Lucas, how is your mother?" Mae asked sincerely.

"Oh, uh, she's good?" Lucas said, almost making the statement sound as a question.

"Has she settled down with anyone yet? Pretty soon you'll be gone and she'll be alone. It's time she finds a man." Royal said firmly.

Six pairs of eyes went straight to Keith. It seemed as though Royal was the only one who didn't know about Keith and Karen, but Dan wouldn't miss this chance to harass his brother.

"Oh, you know how it is Dad. Keith is still picking up my scraps."

Keith sat for a moment before pushing out his chair and walking out of the room.

"Damn it Dan." Nathan hissed at his father.

"What is with this Dan stuff? Can either of you boys address your father correctly?" Royal beamed from the end of the table.

Brooke looked over at Haley who was just as uncomfortable as she was. All seven of them heard a door slam, signaling that Keith had left.

"Sorry Royal. The only person I ever knew as a father just walked out the door." Lucas said smartly.

"Damn it boy. Have you no manners what-so-ever?" Royal's face was turning bright red and Brooke could see a vein starting to appear on his forehead.

Nathan leaned over and whispered to Haley and then looked at Lucas, sending him a message with his eyes. Lucas nodded at his brother. He watched as Haley pulled a present out of her purse. It was a tie that Nathan and Lucas had both pitched in for and a picture frame with a picture of the two of them. The latter of the gifts was Karen's idea, saying that every parent, no matter how good or bad they were, deserved pictures of their children. Haley handed the present to Nathan who handed it to Dan.

"You guys are leaving?" Dan asked bewildered.

"I'm sorry, but yes. I think it's better if we leave now before me or Lucas or our dates are insulted. Happy Birthday, _Dad_. I hope you have a wonderful evening." With that Nathan and Haley walked out.

Lucas and Brooke stood up and nodded to everyone at the table. Brooke looked at the older couple at the corner of the table and smiled. "It really was nice to meet you." She then turned to Dan. "Happy Birthday Mr. Scott."

Dan smiled at the young girl. "Please, Miss Davis, call me Dan. And I hope you come back very soon."

Brooke wasn't sure what it was, but there was something about his voice that was almost sick when he spoke to her, and she didn't like it. She could tell Lucas didn't either. "Goodnight everyone. Happy birthday Dan." And with that, they left the room. Lucas led her out of the house to where Nathan and Haley were already waiting on them at the car.

"So who's hungry?" Nathan asked. The rest of them laughed at the statement before Lucas spoke up.

"Nathan made reservations at some restaurant in Jacksonville." He informed the two girls.

"Why would you do that knowing we had dinner with your father tonight?" Haley asked her boyfriend.

"Let's just say these dinners never go well." Lucas answered.

"So what do you say?" Nathan asked.

"Nice quiet dinner with my boyfriend and best friends? How can I say no?" Haley joked.

"How about you Miss Davis?" Nathan said in his best imitation of Dan.

"Oh get in the car you sleaze." Brooke laughed.

The four of them piled into the car and drove away from Dan's house as quickly as possible.

* * *

_alright so review!_


	19. Breaking Free

**Another Kind of Green  
**_Breaking Free_

Lucas and Brooke walked hand and hand down the pier. Nathan and Haley had already gone home from dinner, but both Lucas and Brooke weren't ready to go home quite yet, and insisted to their friend they'd be fine walking home.

"Is your dad always like that?" Brooke said interrupting the comfortable silence they had fallen into. She had imagined Dan Scott to be mean to her and treat her in the same fashion that he had treated Haley. Instead he was wickedly sweet, and Brooke had felt uncomfortable the entire night because of it.

"Pretty much. Although he brought out a side of Dan I've never seen before. I mean, he was actually hitting on his son's girlfriend." Lucas said with slight disgust. "Not that you're not absolutely gorgeous, that's just entirely inappropriate."

"Oh, trust me. It was awkward." Brooke said and shuddered at the memory.

Lucas nodded, and they continued to walk in silence.

 "You know, your dress really is amazing." Lucas said looking over at his girlfriend."I just think it's amazing that you can do that."

Brooke blushed and looked down at the dress she was wearing. "I've been sewing since I was a little girl. I think I've always known I wanted to make clothes for a living. It's kinda like you and basketball."

Lucas hesitated in responding and looked out to the inter coastal waters. "Basketball is fun and all, but I wouldn't say it's my passion."

"Really?" She said slightly surprised.

"Yeah. I just kind of played when I was little and then everyone started to make such a big deal about me and Nathan being so good. They actually tried to use it against us for a while."

"I remember when you and Nathan hated each other. It was so hard to believe when you guys became friends."

"I just think we didn't know any better. Everyone told us that's how it was supposed to be. It finally hit us one day that our father was a joke and who cared about what anyone else thought."

Brooke nodded as she listened. "Why do you keep playing if your heart's not really into it?"

"It's not that I don't like it." Lucas responded. "I love basketball. I just don't think it's what I want to do for the rest of my life."

 "So what's your true passion then? Since it's not basketball."

"Writing." He simply answered without pause.

"No way!"

Lucas laughed at her response. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"No. No I guess not. But come on." Brooke cleared her throat and continued in a male voice. "'Check out the new Lucas Scott book, _My Gorgeous Girlfriend Brooke Davis,_ it's simply amazing.'"

Lucas laughed at her imitation. "My Gorgeous Girlfriend Brooke Davis?"

"It'll be a best seller." She said giggling.

"Yeah, because you'll buy all the copies in existence."

"Oh don't worry. I'll buy all the copies of your books no matter what their title is." Brooke said and snuggled in to his side.

* * *

Lucas walked through the hallways of Tree Hill sort of in a zone. He knew he had to do it, and he had to soon. He just didn't know how. He would just have to find her, and get it out. He was pretty sure he knew what she'd say, but what if he was wrong?

"Luke, hey." He turned at the sound of the voice and saw Peyton walking next to him.

"What do you want Peyton?" He said looking away.

"Well, I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out tonight. It's been so long since me and you have talked, and I was hoping we could put that whole Nathan thing behind us."

"I never really gave a damn about you and Nathan, Peyton." He said coldly as they stepped into the cafeteria and scanned the crowd for his girlfriend.

"Okay, good. That means there'll be no beef between us. Whaddya say? Dinner tonight?"

Lucas turned to look at her. "Peyton, what are you doing?"

He watched as she changed her determined gaze to one of slight hurt. She had always been good at this, playing off your emotions to get what she wanted. He had watched Nathan go through it time after time.

"You remember that thing we had going on during Sophomore year? When me and Nathan were broken up?"

"No."

"C'mon Luke. We were pretty hot and heavy." She flirted.

Lucas was slowly getting angry. "I remember the time I was wasted at a party, and apparently you took me home. And then the next week that _was_ _why_ you and Nathan broke up. Sorry Peyton, but I don't think there was ever a time I was sober and interested in you." He turned away and continued to look for Brooke. She must be running late from the Home Economics lab.

"Lucas!" He heard her voice from behind him and saw her walking through the double doors that led to the cafeteria. She seemed oblivious to the fact Peyton was standing there with him, and walked directly up to him and planted a short kiss on his lips. "I missed you boyfriend."

They were both interrupted by a voice off to the side. "Lucas, you're really still taking out the trash?"

Lucas' fists clenched in anger, but it was Brooke who reacted this time. She was done with letting Peyton Sawyer walk all over her. She released herself from Lucas' grasp, and walked over and punched Peyton square in the face. The blond fell to the floor as people from the cafeteria stood up to see what was going on.

"Fight!!!"

Brooke looked back at Lucas, and held her hand. Who knew throwing a punch would hurt so badly? She met his gaze, worried that he was be disappointed with her, but was surprised to see a smirk on Lucas' face. His eyes glowed with pride, but something else was showing through as well.

"Miss Davis." A throat cleared in the middle of the group of students that now surrounded them. Brooke looked over and saw Principal Turner standing there with a disappointed look on his face.

"I know." She said to him. "Office."

* * *

"And you punched her?" Karen asked in disbelief from behind the counter in the café.

"I know it was wrong, but I was just tired of her comments. She thinks she's better than everyone, and I figured it was time she knew she was wrong." Brooke responded and took a drink of her water.

"So how long are you out of school?" Keith said, bringing himself into the conversation. Brooke had just given them the rundown on pretty much everything Peyton Sawyer had done to her in her life, and ended it with today's events in the cafeteria.

"It's a three day suspension." Brooke said quietly. "I've never even had a detention."

"Well," Karen said as she wiped off her hands on a towel. "I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself. But you'll be helping around here for the next three days. I could use the help and we'll say it's punishment." Karen said winking at her.

 Brooke laughed. "Sounds like a deal."

All three turned at the sound of the bell over the door, and saw Lucas walking in.

"My God Brooke!" He said as he quickly walked over to her. "Are you crazy?"

Brooke laughed and greeted him with a kiss. "Probably."

* * *

"I'm proud of you, you know?" Lucas said as he and Brooke were wrapped up in each other out on the front porch swing later that night. The air was warm and the stars were out, and Brooke couldn't remember a time where she had been more comfortable in any one place or time.

"Really? You don't think I'm some crazy chick who flies off the handle?"

"Well, yeah. But it's part of the reason why I love you."

"Lucas Scott!" Brooke said and playfully hit his chest causing him to laugh.

Brooke feigned hurt, but then looked back up at him. "Hey Luke?"

"Hmmm?"

"Earlier in the cafeteria, after I hit Peyton you had this weird look in your eyes. I mean I thought you looked happy or proud, but there was something else in there as well."

"Well, I was proud of you." He said quickly.

"But?"

"But what?"

"Lucas!" Brooke exclaimed. "I know I'm not a master on you just yet, but there was definitely something different about the way you looked at me today."

Lucas slightly blushed, but Brooke didn't notice. "I don't think it was a different look, Brooke. Just one you might have missed before."

"I'm confused."

Lucas laughed. "Seriously Brooke? It was pretty hot seeing you hit Peyton. Not that I think rough and violent girls are attactive, and believe me you are far from that, but it was just the way you finally stood up for yourself."

Brooke smiled wide and responded in excited tone. "Really?"

"Yes really."

"Well I just might have to 'stand up for myself' more often." She responded in a suggestive tone.

Lucas laughed at her. "You know, earlier I was trying to find you to ask you something before Peyton showed up." He said, his voice losing it's joviality.

"Really? Is everything okay?" Brooke said sitting up at the seriousness in his voice.

"Yeah." He said, suddenly growing very nervous. "Everything's great."

Brooke eyed him suspiciously. She continued to stare at him for the next several minutes as he searched for the right words. Brooke was confused. What could get Luke so worked up and nervous like that?

Finally, he cleared his throat and took her hands in his. "Brooke Davis, will you do me the honor of going to Prom with me?" He said in one quick breath.

A wide smile broke out onto Brooke's face and she flung her arms around his neck. "Of course I will!"

Lucas let out a breath and accepted her embrace. At least _that_ was over.

"Was that really that bad?" Brooke asked laughing at him.

"Well, no. But what if you said no?" He said innocently.

Brooke pulled back and gave him a look.

"Okay, so you probably wouldn't have, but guys are supposed to get nervous doing these things. It's like, what we do."

Brooke just laughed at him and settled herself back in his arms. "Wow."

Lucas kissed the top of her head. "What's up?"

"I'm going to Prom with Lucas Scott!" Brooke said and squealed with happiness.

* * *

_okay, that's really really short. but it's better than nothing.... right?_

i'm thinking this story will be coming to a close here soon.....


	20. I Could Not Ask For More

**Another Kind Of Green  
**_Could Not Ask For More_

Brooke ran her fingers over the silk fabric in her dress. She leaned in closer to the mirror on her door and double checked her make-up. She was not allowing there to be any flaws with her appearance tonight.

She heard a door creak open, and watched as her friend emerged from the bathroom looking absolutely stunning. Her gold halter top dress hugged her tight around the waist, accentuating the small curves in her hips, and continued to flow down eventually stopping around her knees.

Haley's hair was pulled half back, her hair cascading in a wave of curls down her bare back. Brooke smiled, knowing very well that Nathan would probably have trouble speaking for the first half of the night.

"You look gorgeous Hales. Like seriously, gorgeous." Brooke said.

"Thank you." Haley gushed. "But for the record, you'll be stealing the show tonight."

Brooke rolled her eyes, and turned to look at herself in the mirror again. She loved the way the deep purple worked perfectly with her skin tone and hair color. The fitted, strapless top gave her the right amount of curves, while the bottom and detailed rhinestones gave her the impression of a ball gown. All-in-all, she fell in love with the dress the second she tried it on, and couldn't help but feel like a modern day Cinderella.

"You sure?" Brooke asked slightly nervous. "Not that I'm worried about 'stealing the show,' but more so a certain blue eyed boy who will be here any minute."

"You look radiant Brooke." Haley reassured. "I think any guy, not to mention Lucas, would be an idiot not to say the same."

The door creaked open, and they were both surprised to see Karen's head poke around the corner, a wide grin on her face.

"You girls look beautiful."

Brooke smiled, and immediately went to hug the woman who had become like a mother to her in the past few months. The woman she went to when she needed someone to talk to when Lucas wasn't around. The woman she spent every Thursday, along with her best friend, eating junk food and watching Nicholas Sparks movies. The woman she would forever thank for being the one to help turn her life around.

"Thank you Karen." Brooke said pulling back from the hug, a few tears forming in her eyes.

"Now don't you get me started Brooke." Karen teased. "I already had to go through this with Lucas and Nathan downstairs."

"Oh great." Haley cut in. "As if I wasn't already nervous."

"You have no reason to be." Karen said. "They won't know what hit either of them. I actually just wanted to come warn you girls that Dan is downstairs."

She watched as both faces fell. It wasn't a secret that both of them disliked the man, for very different reasons. For Haley, it was the degrading remarks and disapproving looks he gave whenever she was around. Brooke hated that she was hardly ever comfortable around him. She hated how badly he treated Haley, but it still gave her the willies when he would give her his wickedly sweet smiles. She tended to wear baggy sweatshirts at times she knew Dan would be around, in fear that she would have to witness him staring at places he shouldn't be.

That was just who Dan Scott was. Neither of them could change him. They knew that it was a rare moment when they did have to deal with him, and wouldn't give up their immense happiness for those few and in-between moments.

"Did my parents make it? Haley asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes, they did. They're waiting downstairs with everyone else. We're starting quite a party down there." Karen said chuckling.

She then excused herself, and made her way back down to where mostly everyone was waiting.

"You ready for this Tutorgirl?" Brooke asked her friend.

"More than ready. Seriously, we're going to Prom with Nathan and Lucas Scott."

"It's pretty amazing isn't it?" Brooke said as she stepped out the room, and together the two girls made their way down the staircase.

As she neared the bottom, everything around Brooke seemed to fade away. There must have been a dozen people in the room, but nothing mattered more than the grin on the boy staring intently up at her. It had been almost three months since they had officially been together, and over four since she had moved in, and she still got that butterfly feeling in her stomach when she saw him.

Her foot stepped onto the lowest level, and she went directly to him. Lucas immediately placed his hand on her chin, and lifted it up so he could kiss her properly.

"You're beautiful."

* * *

After almost an hour of photographs, the four of them managed to sneak away and make their reservation for dinner. They spent another hour there before heading for the hotel where the dance was being held.

Ten minutes ago, Lucas had excused himself when the DJ announced that the Varsity basketball team was needed for a team picture leaving Brooke standing alone looking out at the dance floor.

Six months ago she would have never expected to even go to Prom. Her and Haley had talked about it, but didn't want to go if they didn't have dates. And now here she was with the one and only Lucas Scott.

The night had started off bittersweet for her. She smiled at all the pictures the parents were taking, but couldn't help but be sad at the set of parents that were missing from the scene. A month ago she had received a letter from her father, apologizing for allowing things to get as bad as they had. The letter was sweet, but it didn't erase everything that had happened. It wasn't until halfway through the pictures when she looked up and saw Karen and Keith standing with proud smiles did she realize that this was her family now. Those were her parents, and she loved them for it.

She continued to watch the couples on the dance floor, and narrowed her eyes at the sight of Peyton Sawyer dancing with Jake Jagielski. She was happy that Peyton had backed off, especially for Haley's sake. Neither of the two girls had had any more problems with her, but Brooke suspected that it was mainly because of the black eye Peyton had been left with several months ago.

She felt two arms snake around her waist, and turned around so that she was face to face with their owner.

"Hey you." She said smiling up him.

"Can I just say that I love you?" Lucas said, leaning down to kiss his girlfriend.

"Well, I won't object it if you do." She teased.

"Good, because I do love you Brooke." Lucas' voice was serious. "You're smart, you're funny, my family loves you. You have the biggest heart I've ever seen, and I don't know what I'd do without you. I really, truly love you Brooke Davis."

Tears were forming in Brooke's eyes. "Aw, Lucas. I love you too."

* * *

_okay, so i'm finishing up the epilogue for this story now. :(_

_a year and a half later here i am. i hope you all enjoyed this story as much as i have_


	21. I'm Yours

**Another Kind of Green**

_I'm Yours_

Brooke smiled down at the picture in her hands. It was one of her, Lucas, Haley and Nathan on Prom Night standing out in front of Karen' front porch.

Setting the picture back down on her desk, she allowed herself to fall into a world of memories. Of her, her friends, and more particularly, her and Lucas. Sometimes it still amazed her that her life had turned out the way it did.

She turned around and looked out her office window and allowed the New York skyline to surround her. As much as she loved this city, she wanted to go back home. She belonged in Tree Hill. Everything she ever knew was there, and it was the only place she felt at home. It didn't help that her best friend still lived there with her husband and two children. Haley was now a teacher at Tree Hill High while Nathan was on his off season from the Charlotte Bobcats. Their son James was now six years old, while baby Allison had just turned one. It killed Brooke that she only seen her god daughter a handful of times. Now that New York had served it's purpose, Brooke was more than ready to go home.

A light tapping broke her from her thoughts and she turned to see her assistant, Millicent, standing in the doorway.

"You have some visitors." Millicent said with a smile.

Before Brooke could even open to mouth to inquire who was there, a wave brown curls ran into the room, making a bee line to where Brooke was standing.

"Momma!" the little girl cried, holding out her arms.

Brooke smiled and bent down to pick the three year old up, kissing her forehead as she settled her on her hip. "Ella, I missed you baby girl."

"I thought the doctor told you not to pick up anything heavy." a male voice filled the room, and Brooke looked over to see Lucas standing where Millicent had been only a few moments ago. It had been ten years since she and Lucas had first started dating, and he still managed to give Brooke goosebumps.

"Well, maybe if you didn't make such adorable babies I'd be able to refrain." She teased, placing her daughter back on the ground and waddled over to where he was standing. She didn't remember being this big when she was eight months pregnant with Ella, but it was now starting to make things difficult.

"Oh, I see how it is. When Matthew is born, you'll love him only if he's cute?" Lucas said with a smirk on his face.

Brooke mock gasped. "No, what I'm saying is that I'll love little Madison here no matter what." She said patting her belly. "Not really sure about you though. I think once you get old and fat I'm going to have to kick you to the curb."

Lucas laughed and leaned over to kiss his wife. "So, how was your day?"

Brooke cuddled herself into his side. "Kinda sad, you know? This is the last time this office will ever be used for BDS designs."

"You regretting your decision?"

Brooke tilted her head so that if fit in the nook his shoulder created before responding. "Not at all. I'm ready to be home. I miss Haley and Nathan, and your mom and Keith. I'm sad that we're missing so much. And I really want Ella and Madison to have a good place to grow up."

Lucas nodded. "You're so sure it's a girl, aren't you?"

"Just face it. You're going to be outnumbered."

"You and two beautiful little girls? I couldn't ask for anything more."

"You're cheesy Lucas Scott, but I love you." Brooke said leaning up to kiss him.

"I love you too, Brooke Davis-Scott. How 'bout we go get some dinner before we head to the airport? I think Ella wanted some chicken nuggets."

The little girl nodded her head furiously, agreeing with her father. Brooke gathered up the few things left in the office and the three walked out of the office.

"Millicent." Brooke said to the young woman standing behind the desk in the lobby. "I'll see you at the new office in Tree Hill in a few days."

"I can't wait Brooke." Her assistant responded in a cheery voice. "You take care of yourself 'til then."

"Don't worry Milli." Lucas cut in. "I've got her covered."

Brooke smiled at the woman and waved. "We'll see you soon."

Millicent smiled at the family as they walked together out of the office. It was one of the reasons she loved working for Brooke. For as much passion and heart she put into her designs, she put double that into her family.

* * *

Lucas carried the last of his boxes into the room that would be his office. Brooke and Ella were off at his mom's diner grabbing some lunch, but he had stayed back to try and at least get some things set up.

He set the box on the desk in the middle of the room, and opened it up. He smiled at the sight of a familiar book resting on top of various other items for the room. It was the copy of _The Great Gatsby_ that Brooke had bought for him on her 18th birthday.

He picked it up, aiming to place it on the bookshelf on the far side of the room when something fell out. He looked down and saw a small white envelope on the floor with his name written on the front. He scrunched his eyebrows, and bent over to pick it up. He opened up the envelope and pulled out a letter written in very familiar handwriting.

_Luke, _

_I'm assuming that right now you're in the process of writing your next latest novel, one that I'm sure will be as good as your first. I noticed that in the months of writing it you often turned to this when you were in times of stress or needed to take you mind off things, and I was hoping that maybe my words can bring you comfort too. _

_I know that I no longer need to write letters to tell you everything that's going on inside of my head, but I figured it'd be fun for old times sake. I love you Lucas Scott, more than anything in this world. I cannot even begin to thank you for our beautiful daughter, and for the one on the way. Thank you for making me the happiest person on this earth. _

_I love you,_

_Brooke_

Lucas smiled at the letter. It was short and sweet, but classically Brooke. He pulled out the bottom drawer in his desk, and saw a familiar old shoe box inside. He gently opened it and placed the letter inside, along with the other eighty-two letters she had wrote back when they were still in high school.

His thoughts shifted at the sound of his phone ringing out in the main room, but he let it go to voice mail, wanting to get as much done now before Brooke and Ella came back.

Instead of signaling a voice mail, his phone rang again, and this time he made his way out to the living room and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" He answered, slightly out of breath.

"Lucas?" His mother's worried voice sounded through the phone.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Brooke's water just broke. Her and Keith are on their way to the hospital. Lucas, the baby's coming."

Lucas was stunned for a few moments. "But, uh, she's still a month out."

"Well, Ella was a few weeks early. Seems like her little sister wants to be as well." Karen laughed.

"Why is everyone so convinced it's a girl?" Lucas muttered, shaking his head. "Don't worry, Mom. I'm on my way."

He hung up the phone, grabbed his keys, and quickly made his way out to the car.

* * *

"What is taking so long?" Nathan asked as he paced back and forth in the lobby of the hospital. "She's been in there all day."

Haley smiled at her husband. He was so nervous that most people would have probably thought it was his wife who was having the baby. From what she had been told, Lucas acted the same way when she had given birth to both James and Allison. It was just the way the two brothers had always been.

"Not everyone goes into labor and has a baby all in a matter of two hours." Keith teased, smirking over at Haley who laughed. It was true that with both of her children the time of labor had surprisingly short.

They fell into a comfortable silence, only to be interrupted by the sight of Lucas walking out into the lobby, a large grin across his face.

"Luke!" Haley said, being the first to notice him, and jumped out of her seat. "How is Brooke? How is Madison? Are they okay?"

Lucas gave her a smirk, before turning and meeting everyone else's gaze. "Where's Ella?"

"Daddy!" The little girl ran straight from the playing area to her father's arms. "Where's my baby sister?"

"Come on guys. Brooke's waiting for you all." He said ignoring his daughter's question.

The gang stood up and followed him back to the room Brooke was currently occupying.

They were instantly greeted with Brooke's proud smile, and the sight of her holding a small blue bundle in her arms.

"I want you all to meet Matthew Alan Nathaniel Scott." She announced.

Karen and Haley were the first to reach her side, cooing over the baby in Brooke's arms.

"Dude, I told you." Nathan told his brother, shaking his hand in the process. "They always think it's a girl."

Lucas laughed and accepted the hug that Keith was offering. His mother was next.

"I'm so happy for you." She said into his ear before pulling away. "For you both."

He thanked his mother, but looked down when he felt someone pulling on his pant leg. Ella's curls were wild, framing her face as she looked up at him with big curious eyes.

"Daddy?"

Lucas picked up the little girl. "Yes baby girl?"

"Where is baby Madison?"

Her voice was so sweet and innocent that Lucas couldn't help but laugh. "It seems your mommy was wrong." Lucas told her, his eyes catching with his wife's across the room. "You have a baby brother named Matthew."

"A baby brother?"

"Yep. A baby brother."

"But brother's are eewwie." She said scrunching her nose.

"Oh, I don't know Ella. I know little brother's are a pain," he said causing the room to laugh ", but I have one, and I like him."

The little girl looked up at him for a few moments, still unsure of it all.

"How 'bout we go meet him?" Lucas asked her, and she nodded her head.

Lucas carried the little girl over to the bed Brooke was sitting in. "Ella, this is your baby brother Matthew."

He placed her on the bed so that she was on the opposite side of him, but still sitting with her mother.

"He's so small." Ella whispered, holding her hand out to touch her brother.

The room watched as the little girl interacted with her brother for the first time.

"Ella," Brooke said quietly to her daughter. "Isn't baby Matthew cute?"

"He sure is Mommy!"

* * *

Hours later, Lucas, Brooke, Ella and Matthew sat together in the comfortable silence of the hospital room. Ella was asleep in her mother's arms, while Lucas held the little blue bundle that was his son.

"You're not disappointed are you?" He asked her quietly.

Brooke looked over at him incredulously. "Why on earth would I be disappointed?"

"You were so sure it was a girl."

"Lucas," Brooke smiled at him. "I already have a beautiful little girl. Now I have a handsome little boy. This is all more than I could have ever asked for."

"I love you Brooke."

"I love you Lucas, and Ella, and Matthew. I love you all so much."

* * *

_alright guys. this is it. it's finished. and_ _i'm terribly sad._

_please let me know what you all think._

_thank you all so so so much for your support over the last year. _


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